Exams Not the ONLY Ingredient of Success - says Rahul Dravid

DISCLAIMER – This is a personal note written by a student whose creative mind is stuck in the whirling cyclone of the education system of India. Kindly don’t consider this as Patthar Ki Lakeer. 

How Examinations Overshadowed My Dreams

“Mom, Dad, there is this really cool video editing online course for beginners which I….”

“Your CBSE board exams are next month, right? Is the syllabus covered for all subjects?”

“Yeah but listen noo…”

“Go and revise everything over and over again…all of this can happen later also. First, you focus on your exams.” That’s the ingredient of success.

And that “later” never comes. And I am not the only one to have such a conversation with my parents, my friends have had it too! An entire year’s learning boils down to just one thing – examinations. As if learning has no other purpose in the education system of India other than being showcased on a few pieces of paper. 

Examination is Just an Ingredient of Success, Not the Recipe Itself

Exams judge a wide variety of our abilities. Some of those are –

• Retention power
• How well we can recall the knowledge information gained
• Our strengths and weaknesses
• Time management
• An indicator of what we know
• Areas of improvement helping us to enhance knowledge and learning

Don’t get me wrong here. I am not against examinations. But as a student, my capabilities can’t only be concluded based on a set of exams. My talent, passion, interests, creativity – examinations are unable to judge all of this.  

“Education system cannot only be about ingredient of success in examinations, it can be one way to judge boys and girls but it cannot be the ONLY way.”

– Rahul Dravid

If you were to see one of our school students out of their school uniform, you would feel like you’ve met a completely different person! Someone who has skills that were not taught by textbooks or in a science lab. Someone whose passion and creativity was not sketched in an art class. These traits are inborn! And as a student, all we ask is to acknowledge and motivate us to follow our passion and take up a career that is unconventional, untraditional…just like Rahul Dravid did decades ago!

Each time he shows up on the screen during a match, I feel inspired! “How difficult it must have been for him to choose a sports career almost two decades ago!” I think to myself. He not only followed his passion religiously, he understood the importance of education too. In a recent article, I got to know that he even completed his MBA! And that’s when it struck me… 

A Little Change is What the Indian Education System Needs

The education system of India needs to come up with teaching-learning methods that help me balance both my passion and learning. Focusing on just my interests and hobbies would deprive me of learning the required skills to move ahead in life. And focusing on only studying for examinations won’t cater to my learning in the long run. 

“I think people have many skills, they have many abilities. A good education system is something that brings out those skills and abilities rather than inhibits people from pursuing those because you are only judging success based on examinations.”

Dravid said in a recent interview

Dravid’s Personal view on Ingredients of success

Don’t you also think it’s true? Each one of us is full of potential! And when we channel that potential into an activity we start calling it our “interest” and “passion”. My mother has great sewing skills. Every year just before winter, she knits these amazing woolen hand gloves and scarves for all of us! But back in her days, she couldn’t get the required education in the designing field and so her talent is restricted to just the four walls of our home. 

What Dravid has to say on Ingredient of success

I wish to have a different ending to my story than my mother’s. I want to make wildlife videos that the whole world sees! And for that, I need expert guidance and training in the field to make a successful career out of it. 

“I think we need so many skills to be able to develop our country as a truly world-class global bar and it can’t only be about the traditional roots of education or traditional careers that we are so used to.” Rahul Dravid said about the future of education in India. 

It is the age of being a global citizen. And I cannot become one if I am deprived of the skill training required to reach high ranks in my area of interest. How helpful it would be if we had such a strong education system that not only conducts competitive examinations but also provides resources to enhance our skills! That would have made my path towards success less bumpy.

My Parting Thoughts on the ingredients of success- The Education System

If video editing or photography were taught even as an extra-curricular subject in my school, I wouldn’t have to search for a course to learn it professionally. School, as an institution, has had an immense impact in the way I see the world and I am forever grateful for that! Only if there was a little space in the school, for dreamers like me, who simply want to be successful in doing what we love!

I should now get back to my revision and quickly finish it off so that I can have that “later” conversation with my parents sooner! Meanwhile, you can share your thoughts about the education system in India in the comments section 🙂