Looking beyond Marks

Students who do well in examinations and score high marks are no doubt bright and hardworking, but many who do not are often equally intelligent and turn out to be even more successful in life. Some of the famous achievers such as Bill Gates, Einstein and Thomas Edison have not been stellar performers in school, highlighting a deep disconnect between performance in examination and success.

Intelligence Quotient or IQ for instance,measures a person’s logical or analytical ability and is conventionally regarded as the main arbiter his potential. Our deep cultural bias that puts a premium on such scores is reflected in the questions that parents and teachers ask of children, such as “Who is the best student in your class? Who is the topper of your school?” and so on, giving undue importance to only scholastic success.

In this rigid system, children who have other skills and capabilities such as leadership, music, games and organizational ability are often made to feel second rate. The question that comes back to haunt parents and students in this model is ”What will get you admission in a good college or  job – marks, football or friends?”.  While these comments are often made by well-meaning, insecure middle- class parents to motivate their children to achieve scholastically, they reinforce the narrow views of ability, and rob children of self-esteem.

Taking a step further, our conventional yardstick  has come under attack. In fact, contemporary theories by experts such as Howard Gardener indicate the existence of Multiple Intelligence (MI).

Creative, Social and Emotional Intelligence are some forms that are being increasingly recognized and assessed. In a recent workshop on leadership at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, I learnt that corporates and industrial houses are no longer looking to hire top scorers or those with high IQ but are putting more weightage on the candidates’ nature, character, adaptability and ability to get along in a team.

It is time parents and teachers shifted focus from a student’s accomplishment to his effort. Encouraging this “growth mindset” has greater lasting value and propels a student ahead. A failure or set-back is taken as an impetus for doing better next time in the “growth” model” rather than a complete collapse of one’s confidence and esteem in the “accomplishment” model.

While we often ridicule many politicians for not having scholastic credentials, some of them demonstrate excellent abilities to lead and enjoy large followings suggesting that they have high social intelligence scores.

Some children may have exceptional creative abilities and could be future successful entrepreneurs. There are yet others who excel in their ability to adapt to changing surroundings and circumstances, and will come up on top in their jobs or business, demonstrating tremendous “Adaptive Intelligence”. 

It is time we learnt to appreciate the unique potential of every student and stopped assessing them through the narrow prism of IQ, exams and grades.
As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 17 March, 2013.