At my high school, there was a ‘100% attendance’ award granted to students who never took a leave from school. No sick leave, family vacation leave, planned leave, nothing. I became the bait of being the perfect student and daughter and was obsessed with getting this award.
Every year, I used to get so many awards in multiple categories, but I was not happy because I could not win ‘100% attendance’ award. The first two attempts failed, and the third time was the charm, and I finally bagged this award.
I still have a core memory from this time. One morning, I felt feverish, but I did not tell my parents about it. I went to school, and soon I got distracted with friends and classes. However, my body was getting weaker, and I was too busy to notice until lunch break. I opened my lunchbox, and I took the first bite of my lunch and could not swallow it. That was when I realized that I had a high temperature and a splitting headache. I kept my lunchbox aside and slept the entire break.
I was in deep sleep when one teacher came and woke me up. My friends had called her to check in on me, and she forced me to go home. Without my knowledge, I started crying and said, that I feel fine, let me stay in class. My friends told the teacher that the reason I am not going home is to win the 100% attendance award. The teacher insisted that I go home, but I was stubborn. I convinced her that in 2 hours, school will be done and I anyway will go home. Let me stay for those two hours.
My teacher was convinced, and I stayed. That year, I won the award, and at that moment, I felt proud of myself. Now that I think about it, was I really happy about winning the award or just happy because my obsession – the urge to impress people was satisfied?
Parents and educational institutions form the base for children to grow and develop a certain outlook on life. As educational institutions aid children by giving them direction in life, was it morally correct to have introduced this award?
Some might argue that this award is their way of nurturing discipline. But the proper way of nurturing discipline is to embrace life amidst process and chaos. The teacher who intervened that day could have taught me that losing this award does not mean you lack discipline, it only means you are a human being.
Here is another story:
I have been following a balanced diet lifestyle for about 2 years now. I try to balance my meals throughout the day and avoid junk. Protein-rich breakfast, balanced lunch, and fibre-rich dinner. However, life happens, and sometimes I may not end up having a protein-rich breakfast one day. Does that mean I don’t have discipline? Does it mean that because I didn’t have this meal, all my efforts have gone in vain? No. The real discipline is to go back and have a protein-rich breakfast the next day.
If I think about it, I think this was our first exposure to the phrase ‘corporate slaves’. The same obsession carried over into working 12-14 hours every day, working over the weekends, saying yes to work even when the body is begging for rest. And it doesn’t help that companies glorify this obsession through rewards like bonuses or promotions.
Here is the hard-hitting reality: when it is time for companies to let go of their employees, they will not check the number of hours you invested in their company. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and you could easily be replaced. In the end, the employees and their families suffer the wrath because family time is often neglected in the name of ‘working hard’.
Conclusion
Life is nothing but finding our rhythm amidst chaos and distractions. Educational institutions must understand this and ensure to let children know that getting back to routine is important more than obsessing over not breaking it ever. Because the latter only causes mental exhaustion and life turns out to become a pressured existence than a beautiful experience.
Leave a Reply