What I Wish My Parents Would Know As I Take My CIE Exams

By The Mango Tree | 5 May, 2016

Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are those of the author’s and don’t necessarily represent or reflect the views of MangoBaaz.

By: Shayan Vohra

 

To the world, and specially to my beloved Pakistani parents,

CIEs are here! Crunch time. We’re studying hard, very hard, right? Gotta’ get that ‘World Distinction’ this time. But before you do that let me ask you, what does that grade on your report card tell you? A report card tells you how well someone is at memorizing information and their ability to regurgitate that in written or oral form. A report card does not tell you about your personality, work ethic, athletic ability or devotion. A report card does not tell you about your compassion and your perseverance. It doesn’t tell you if you’re the kind of person who will either get back up after being told no.

Exams in Pakistan
Via: Express Tribune

A person with an A* may live in such a cocoon that they might not even know how to handle the pressure when he’s on the verge of bankruptcy or failure but the C grader who never gives up ends up reaching his lifelong dream because he has always heard people talk about his failures.

 

A grade doesn’t show how creative someone is. Here are my questions to all those who think otherwise:

Why are all the average graders looked down upon in your society?

Why are they told the will never accomplish a single thing in life?

Why do the A graders end up being the people with the most mediocre and basic minds here in Pakistan while the college dropouts or failures all around the world end up changing the world?

Punish Student
Source: Likhhaari

We Pakistanis beat our child’s dreams to the ground even after he’s worked his ass off just because “khala ke betay ka pata hai 5 A*s aye hain“. While we concede that times change, we refuse to change with them.

 

An auntie says, “kya zamanay thay hamaray bachpan ke” but she can’t go a day without checking Khaadi’s new collection on Instagram.

What they are, are hypocrites and professionals at shooting down people’s hopes and dreams while doing the exact same things they shot those dreams for.

Via: Tumblr

You’ll see a man running around his bike in a cheap suit finding investors for his brilliant business idea, and all we think would be “Ha! Salay ka suit dekh“. You tell your child the marvels of Richard Branson but then you tell him he’s a piece of shit when he gets a C grade. You tell him you love him but then you refuse to believe that he does work hard, even though he ends up failing to score that perfect A grade.

 

It’s the age of Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, not the age of “loug kya kahen gey“.

Pakistan Students Technology
Source: USAID

Teach your children to be the best of themselves. Teach them to be God fearing leaders. Not better than your “phupo ki beti“. Your children and even you, are gifts from God, not steel rods to be molded into shape. The ones who are crazy enough, the ones who get laughed at, at your Sunday family lunches, the ones who have the great visions are the ones who do end up changing the world. As my beloved father taught me, “Think you can, and with the help of Allah, you’ll move mountains.”

Report Cards are our society’s way of telling us what we’re worth, but can we really let a society tell us what we are if this is the same society that tells us that ‘abortion is wrong’, but then looks down on teenage parents? It is the same society that sells products to promote “natural hair” and “natural body”, but the model on the box they use is nothing but photoshopped. It is also the same society where Imams preach against greed but have the stomachs that personify greed itself. We are a nation built on the foundation of Islam and peace. Yet we continue run on the foundation of hypocrisy and war.

Children Tech Pakistan
Via: The News Tribe

Please, teach us, your children, not confusion and hypocrisy that you practice, but values that you really want us to have.

Shayan Mubashir Vohra.

 

Shayan Mango Tree

About the Author: Shayan is an A Level student at Cedar College, Karachi. He is an aspiring entrepreneur and likes to refer to himself as a “visionary”.

Cover Image via: Dawn

Zarra ye bhee check karein:

This is What a Pakistani Student’s Life is Like During Exams

Exams in Pakistan

13 of the Craziest Excuses Students Have Used When They Didn’t Do Their Homework

Students Crazy Excuses Pakistan

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