Everybody is genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will keep thinking it is stupid for its whole life.

                                                                                                                             -Albert Einstein

              Education was important, they said. It will help you get laid, they said. I mistook it for a sweet journey with just learning, understanding, applying concepts for practical implementation and smoothly waltzing around until THE EDUCATION SYSTEM happened. And yes, marks! My hopes of well.. resulted in futility. Before my thoughts are censored, let me testify that I shower humor in every article of mine to help you NOT get bored easily. So please do not mistake the humor for crudeness. Okay, disclaimer put, moving on!

I never imagined marks will be a huge hurdle, a massive boulder, a detrimental parametric quantity to my intelligence, a thorn in my otherwise smooth path. I always thought scoring good marks was the key to a good life until reality fathomed. Marks kills the fun. It ruins the purpose of enlightening the mind by intriguing things and is just a materialistic parameter on which our very own beloved caring society judges us.

Picture a school with no judging criteria in the form of grades, marks and fancy comments like 'Par Excellence'. Just imagine kids right from Kindergarten to Higher Secondary coming to school with no anxiety about "homework" checking, learning what they really like, freely interacting with their peers and then leaving the place with a smile. No judging criteria whatsoever, believing that everyone is a genius in his or her own way and actually preaching the same. Education would be fun in a true sense. No report cards and no dumb parent-teacher meetings where the poor guy/girl is humiliated just because s/he is “weak” in math or a language-courtesy marks! Kids actually would love to study if PASS/FAIL criteria were eliminated in totality. But, what the hell! We live in a dystopia ruled by complacent syllabus setters who make sure your little life is a huge living hell. There will be a countering to this from some minds that marks keep you in discipline, actually force you to study! Well, dear folks, if a person likes what he does, it's not study, it's enjoyment. Evaluation based on such an inane factor is no way justifiable.

I guess, the system felt learning without fear of being evaluated and tormented is too passé, so lets include marks and make life a little tough. Even in engineering life, we have marks for every single factor right from an assignment to a project for the Final Year. To add to it, we are told '100 marks ka hai. Itna hi karoge?'or for a conceptual answer, '10 marks ka hai na? aur likho! This exact parameter spoils the fun of learning and actually implementing an idea. The whole materialistic examining is preposterous. Marks never really imply we have understood the subject. It means our cache memories worked for 3 hours in a stupid examination. Again the system is carved in such a fashion that reading between the lines for every single time; we see MARKS, MARKS and MARKS.

Life would be a living paradise for the first 15-20 years if there was no judging. Parents have a beautiful habit comparing you with your peers based on marks. I mean, this is one of the most baffling and ridiculous way of judging your very own blood. Life = Marks. Well, marks will ONLY help you score good grades and make your report card all grooved up with those 'Excellent' remarks, but ultimately it's wisdom and experience that will take you ahead in life.

Education is knowing tomato is a fruit. Wisdom not putting it in fruit salad. And sorry again to burst your bubble with my wisdom pin but your marks are not going help you once your “Formal Education” is over. You are on your own. Adios!

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