On the education of the young, translated…
My son who’s in the elementary year told me, “Mom, this time, the instructor ran the list of students who’d made an eighty and higher, she didn’t announce my name.” Right at the moment, I was, surprised, and as he’d shown me his test, I saw that it was a seventy-seven, I was, so shocked.
I’d recalled back to my primary school years, although I’d not made perfect scores across the grade sheet, but, I’d scored mostly in the nineties range, and, as the time for the sectional exams approached, I’d, bucked down and studied. And other than that, I’d also, bought the test prepare books with my allowances, and, challenged myself to answer all the questions on there; I’d enjoyed running to the courtyard of the school to see the scores posted, and think of how I can improve my grades for the next time. But, at a major exam that dictated my future, after I’d scored very low, I’d lost, that drive to learn.
I’d saturated myself, sat by my son, as he made his corrections on his exams, helped him sort through the problems to see if they were wrong due to his carelessness, or that he really didn’t understand how to do them. And asked him how he’d felt, making this grade? He’d smiled and told me, “It doesn’t feel that good, but, I’d gotten the problems wrong due to my carelessness, so, it’s because I wasn’t focused enough while taking the exam.” I thought this was enough, to make him buck down and focus on his studies, but, actually, he’d still carried on easily, not weighed his grades heavily, and, gotten totally into the things that were, interesting to him—the assortment of airplanes and trains, their structure and everything there is to know about them; he’d set up the construction for a complex city, studied how the roads were paved down. And, as the subject came up, he’d become, very animated, started talking incessantly, and it was hard for him to stop his “lecture” before he was completely done talking.
I am a model of what traditional learning is all about, working hard, bucking down, with the goal of placement, and high scores, believed, that so long as I’d made high grades, everything will be set for me, not knowing, that after a defeat, I crumbled, and, couldn’t get myself back up again.
And, looking at my son, although he’d not taken anything seriously enough, and his carelessness would show up in his schoolwork, but, if he’d wanted to know about something, he’d gone and found his own resources on it, and I’m envious, of how much passions he could have.
Grades are only temporary markings, the desire to learn is what makes life possible. I hope that I can, stop paying too much attention on the grades, to see farther down the line, to help him protect that fire that’s in him, to help him carry on his drives, despite how difficult life can get.
So, this mom is changing, she was raised a certain way, and, she unknowingly, passed down how she was taught down to her own son, but then, she realized, that grades aren’t everything, that allowing her son, to exercise his imaginative abilities, is WAY more important, than making the grades.
Life, the Obstacle Course 