9A. Personal Views

It is necessary to be humane and to have courage and compassion. Devotion, honesty, hard work, and fearlessness are the attributes that bring success to life. 

Poverty is a curse in life. Apart from physical hardship, it is a hurdle to mental development in two ways. On the softer side, it often makes one timid and hinders personality development (good guy). On the hard side, it may make one cruel with a criminal bent of mind to forcibly grab things not within one's reach (a bad guy)

To my mind, struggle and strict discipline make a man fit to face and fight hostile situations in life.

There is an adage a woman breaks or makes a family. The woman plays the most vital role in bringing up a family. She is the kingpin centring whom her children revolve. She must have the learning and the aptitude to instil moral, cultural, and ethical values in her children. She should project her husband high in the eyes of her children and highlight all his qualities keeping away his bad ones, if there be any,  from them. For this, she should intimately know the man she had married and his family. She should see that the children have love, respect, and fear for their father. The father is the second line of defence in the family, and once that defence is lost, there will be none to look up to if the children start going astray. The mother should not contradict the father in support of the children in their presence when they are wrong. She should be temperate and should have lots of patience. Parents should never argue or quarrel in front of their children. They should settle their differences without children knowing.

Parents should take care to inculcate in children the habit of early rising and moral and ethical values, which are lacking in present-day society. These are necessary, particularly in the context of the present-day late-night culture and all-out social degradation. Children should never have overindulgence. The saying, an example is better than precept, is nowhere more applicable than in educating kids and young children. Parents should teach by their example. Parents accustomed to drinking1 should be careful that the children don't ever get the hint of it. It should be emphasised again and again to younger ones that study is like worship for children, as is said in "छात्राणां अध᳭यय᳝नम् तपः ।" (Chatranam adhyanam topo).

Parents today are more concerned about the marks their wards obtain in the examinations. They don't bother if their children get real education to be  good human beings and learned ones. The children are under constant pressure to prepare themselves for getting high marks in the examination. In the process, they  sacrifice their childhood and fantasies at the altar of an unhealthy competition for the high marks. At the end we get some marks-hunting robots in stead of some good human beings. I have heard of some unwanted situations due to pressurizing the children for marks. I feel the parents should be concerned with what the children are learning and how they are shaping in preference to making them run after the marks. Children should be allowed to study in a pressure-free atmosphere, so that a sense of responsibility slowly gets induced in them. If we do it with care, it is likely that the child will concentrate on studies and obtain good marks while learning, too. For the child to score good marks, it is necessary first to give him his space so that  he becomes good receptible. For children constantly put under pressure, there is a apprehension of a sense of revolt and frustration getting over them.

I have recently found some educative videos on social media with views more or less similar to mine on modern-age education. I have embedded links to those videos at the end of this section for those interested in having a look. Below are the details about those videos.

As we know, actor Amir Khan has made a couple of successful films on our education system and has deeply involved himself in the education problem of our country. A video titled "Eye-Opening Speech by Amir Khan..." in which Amir Khan spoke his mind, was uploaded on Facebook in 2017. I feel, all parents, teachers, and educators need to watch this video. I have embedded a link to that video at the end of this section for visitors to this page to see. It may, however, be required to log in to Facebook to watch this video.

Another video contains a reply reportedly by a Ramakrishna Mission Sannyasin to the question as to why we don't have great men today while there were lots of them in the past. 

 The third one contains a conversation between some teachers and the parents of a student on the ideal method of evaluation of a student's performance. 

People made me believe that events in life like marriage, education, and career are all pre-destined. Howsoever one may be talented or alert, it is not always within one's means to change the course. Despite this, one should always endeavour to secure the best available options.

Quoting Shelley, I would say at the end:

                                          "We look before and after,                                             

                                          And pine for what is not;

                                          Our sincerest laughter

                                          With some pain is fraught;

                                          Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts."