As a teacher, I
often learn from my students more than what I teach teach them. My learning happens in many different ways
and it usually it goes far beyond the classroom.
Last night, I was
checking some papers – essays written by my students. It was an essay they had
to write in 40 minutes and they had to write at least 250 words. I found two
scripts where the writers wrote far below their capacity because they wrote too
much. They seemed to be in a tearing hurry to write whatever they knew and had
to say on the topic. Should you do this, particularly if you have to complete
the task within a given time-frame?
The answer
obviously is a big NO. If you tried something like that, you would commit avoidable
errors and have no time to check the work in the end. Besides, since you were
trying to cover far too many points, you wouldn’t be able to develop them
adequately or offer evidence to prove them. So your essay could well be a
hodgepodge of semi-developed ideas and taste like uncooked biriyani. Whatever
great ideas you might have would be wasted. Just as the finest basmati rice
would be, if it wasn’t cooked properly!
So dear Students,
whenever you have to write an essay, do write slowly. Write only as much as you
can within the given time. Give your brain the time to process and organise
thoughts and give your fingers the opportunity to write neatly. First, decide what
the most important points are, and then think: how many of them can you write
down neatly in the given time, leaving a few minutes for checking in the end? In any
exam, it is the quality of your writing that matters primarily. The quantity
matters too – but that’s far too secondary.
*
When I opened my
eyes this morning, I was thinking about these answer sheets. Suddenly, my long
to-do list flashed before my eyes. And then the penny dropped. Don’t we commit
the same mistake in life all the time? Aren’t we trying to do far too many
things than what our time and energy would permit? Is everything that I think
is important really important? Can I have less worries and more peace? Less
junk and more quality?
How many of the
things to do in my list really matter?
Let me strike off half of them, for good!
Kolkata
Wednesday, 05
August 2015
