Proficiency or Percentage?

The calibre of an individual is not to be identified through their marks or percentage; it depends on one's ability. Judging people on their merits has been very common in our society, scoring 90% and above is what every parent expects from their children in the 10th and 12th. Still, they don't understand that the merits can't decide the career or future of their children.

The taboo to score high marks has increased so much in the society that it is now affecting the children as:

1. Pressure - Children are pressurized by the family and community to score high or else they will not be appreciated.

2. Comparison - People compare children which is not a good thing because it affects the confidence level and the personality of an individual.

3. Depression - The pressure on the children leads them to go in depression because of which not only their academics but also their overall performance faces a downfall.

4. Suicide - This is what we read after the declaration of results, the children in pressure and depression commit suicide which is not right.

5. Isolation - Some children stay isolated because they don't want to face the society.

6. Mental affect - All this affects the mental health of a child because of which there arise issues in the natural growth of a child. One needs to avoid pressurizing their children because pressure can even worsen their actual results.

Focusing on percentage can't guarantee a better college, job or life; instead of pointing out on the merits, one needs to figure out the other person's quality and ability. Skills, potential, talent, and hard work can make a person grow in all perspectives, irrespective of their merits. If we try to look around, we can find people who were scholars in school but don't have a good life, and we can also find people around us who have been average but have a good lifestyle.

Career, money, lifestyle, and satisfaction has no direct connection with the percentage; but have a link to one's ability to do something. The people in our society need to understand that a child needs to be looked after with love, care, and attention; not with pressure or comparison. It's the duty of parents to figure out and understand their children's interests so that they can support and motivate their children for the same.

After observing around, we can realize that still, many parents judge their children and other children based on the percentage. Yet, apart from this crowd, there are parents and people in the society who appreciate their children for what they are and also support them for the same. According to these parents, children need to be handled with care as a small incident with them can last in their memory for a lifetime. The basic strategies to deal with children are:

1. Love- This is the essential requirement for every living being, handling with love can make a person grow better.

2. Care- Children are delicate and one needs to look after them; so parents are the best people who can learn look after their children.

3. Attention- Every individual needs attention and so why not children after all this is the stage when the learn a lot of things, so one needs to give attention to their children.

4. Support- In the growing stage children need a lot of support whether it's about their academics or extra co.curricular activities.

5. Punishment- It is also important to punish the children when they are wrong, but the punishment shouldn't be very harsh.

6. Rewards- Doing good work should be appreciated by giving rewards to children.

Thus, expecting everything from the children won't make things work, it should be a joint effort of both the parents and the children. Being supportive can make a child feel confident and motivated, which will help them to grow in a better way. Therefore, people need to stop judging children on their percentage and should appropriate their existing abilities.