An Average Child Is No One’s Child
Of the
many factors, that decide the academic success of a student, what we can
identify as two predominant traits are his INTELLIGENCE level and ENERGY level.
Energy could also mean, one’s level of self motivation. So, this gives way to a
matrix which can be something like this:
Type
1: High Intelligence + High Energy = Brilliant Student
Type
2: Low Intelligence + Low Energy
= Dull Student
Type
3: High Intelligence + Low Energy = Average Student
Type
4: Low Intelligence + High Energy = Aggressive/ Adamant Student
Though we
tend to believe that God created all equally, it is not true. We see difference
in colour, character, and also the intelligence level. Psychologists classify
children as Gifted children, Special Child and Normal Child.
The
“Gifted child” is a quick learner as he has the ability to grasp and
understand concepts effortlessly. The “Special child” needs special care,
from the teachers and students, because they find it difficult to understand
what is being taught to them. It is only by repetitive teaching or by a
different style of teaching, can these children understand the subject. In
between these two classifications comes the “Normal child” or the “Average
Child”, which is of concern to us today. They are like the seed with potential to grow
to a big tree, but because they do not get the special care that a special
child gets or the appreciation that a gifted child gets, they get stranded on
being an average child.
There is
a quote, “An average child is no one’s child”.
The responsibility of bringing out the best in an average child largely
depends upon his/ her teachers and parents. But the attitude of the parent and
the teacher, towards an average child is detrimental in his/her progress.
The general
mentality of the parent, who has an average child, is that they are comfortable
with the performance of their children and they are indifferent towards their
performance. For example, if the child has shown some small improvement in his
marks, he is not appreciated. He is always compared with the brilliant students
and made to feel that his small achievements are not praise worthy. Similarly,
when his performance goes down, they do not take it seriously. They just tell
him to do well next time. There is no special care given to make him improve on
his weak subjects.
Similarly
with the teachers, the reason is because of the lack of involving them. Let as
assume a class of 30. In this class the top ten performers are called the
brilliant children and the last ten are called the dull students. The brilliant
children are asked to take part in all the programmes and activities
representing the school. The school is interested that it should win more
prizes and awards to gain public honour, and therefore have the team consisting
of the brilliant children. As far as the dull children, they are generally not
interested in participating. But it is the average child who aspires to
participate, but is not given a chance. This attitude of the teacher demotivates
the child. He starts feeling inferior to others and he himself puts up a mental
block, that he has not talents.
In a
world of today, success is not defined by the academic performance of the
student. What the corporate world is looking for today, is street smart
executives who have a flair in communication and an indomitable spirit.
We have a role to play in shaping up the generation of tomorrow. Let us look with new eyes, to the average child and create a better world for him. This we can achieve only by involvement, motivation and appreciation.
D. Senthil Kannan,
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