IT'S NOT THE MONEY,IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING!!

Below, is an sms that was circulated among my peers a few days before the 12th board exams results were announced. Having received the same sms from about fifteen odd friends of mine made me more interested in the message and has culminated in this article.

New exam pattern by the government:
FC: answer all the questions
BC: answer any 5 out of 20 questions
MBC: answer any question you like
SC: 'read only' questions
ST: thanks for coming.

Education of late, has become more of a ‘business deal, especially in this modern era. The covenant goes thus: Marks are not a measure of man’s intelligence. So, an individual who pays 20 lakhs for a Rs.20,000 merit seat has a better chance of getting it, as opposed to a person who has scored 99.99%. I may sound mordant, even acerbic. But that’s how the truth is- extremely acerbic.

What is with people these days?? We have reached a state when we pay more importance to money rather than veracity and principles. The government has brought about a few drastic changes, making life better for various sections of the society, especially the backward classes. Nothing to write home about. The question however is, how many of these allegedly ‘deserving people’ actually deserve and merit the seats they get in various colleges? At first, I didn’t take much notice of this razzmatazz . I had to go to one of the colleges to take up an entrance exam for my admission into the literature group- a group which has fascinated me since time immemorial . The invigilator in charge asked us to ‘give’ our attendance and a voice quipped ‘’if I give it (attendance) to you, what will I do without it?’’(I am not joking, this horrifying incident actually took place!!) .I was shocked and for the first time in my life at a loss for words.(no, I wasn‘t neurasthetic, just plain shocked.) Here was a girl who didn’t have a clue about English and there she was, writing the admission test for the literature group. The next day, the results were out and this girl actually made it into the college with her coveted group. Yes, she had desired the group and had got it too. But did she in actuality deserve it? These things are not common to one group alone. Such incidents are also commonly associated with the medicine and engineering seats as well.

Bizarre though it may seem, people with top marks are not granted admission into a few colleges for the simple fact that these students ‘lack recommendations by influential people.’(I can almost picture that look of incredulity on all your faces…). A commonly asked query is why recommendation when the student has scored top results?? That sadly, is a question to which we may never know the answer. The government has made life easier for the backward sections of society by raising the number of seats for them in various institutions. There are a few of these people who actually work hard and get into these institutions despite being from the backward sections of the society. But, what about the rest? The SMS at the beginning of this article should give people a fair idea as to what we are actually headed for.

Einstein once said ‘The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.’ Indeed, the more the amount of money given, better are the chances of a person receiving a ticket to their’ dream college’ , irrespective of the marks obtained. But Einstein sure did not mean it this way!!
When Darwin said ‘survival of the fittest’ he for one wild moment wouldn’t have thought that people would have taken it in the sense that more the bucks they pay, better the seats. Sadly, that is what people are doing. They have forgotten what conscience, values and integrity are . These words have been unceremoniously replaced by words like’ money, big bucks, bribes etc.’ ‘Honesty is the best policy’ has been shown the door and has been replaced with phrases like ‘money talks honey’ and their ugly likes. Money seems to be ubiquitous, but what about our values and principles? Money seems to have lost its values along with education. Unfortunately, ‘values’ seem to have lost their value too- a very sad state of affairs.

Like I said, ‘it’s not the money. It’s the principle of the thing.