Viswanathan K's Thoughts

It was that time of the year – the mid-year exams. As my 10 yo daughter drove us up a wall, I shuddered. Because it’s not just her: all the kids seem to be the same – they don’t know anything, but they’re all capable of arguing endlessly.   I remember this scene in the Amazon Prime spy series called The Family Man , where the teenaged daughter announces one day that she won’t go to school. I loved her mom’s response. Sure, don’t go. In fact, stop going to school altogether. It’s clear you are only going to end up as a maid anyway, so might as well start practicing at home from now itself. Oh wait, you don’t know any of that work either, do you? Let’s put you on an internship under Kanta bai…   At work, we find that the kids graduating out of college don’t know anything. Perhaps I shouldn’t curse those guys at office so much. The current generation doesn’t even look like it will get through college, assuming they can even get into college in the first place... ...

Until this year, my 8 yo daughter used to have monthly tests (and no exams). You’d think she’d have been happy with that state of affairs, but no. “Kids with exams get study holidays”, she’d whine, “I don’t”. This year she got her wish: exams and study holidays. Little did she realize it also meant a lot of studying. A lot. Be careful what you wish for, kiddo, it might come true. And boy, has it been brutal. For her and me both. The school had helpfully put out sample exam papers, and like any true blood Indian parent, I too had forced her to take it. Then there was the increased content to learn, far more than what she was used to in her monthly cycles. And last, but not least, she learnt to her dismay that study holidays are for, er, studying. As you can imagine, my daughter was soon sick of “so much studying”. On weekdays, on weekends, on study holidays . And since I was the one tormenting her, we had many exchanges during that period: -      ...