Umair Malik
I often hear from people of older generations, “We were not having enough finances, as you do, to do better in academics and achieve the greater heights. You are fortunate enough to have the whole nine yards available, so you have no excuse for underperforming in academics.” I ask them, “No doubt there has been some advancements in teaching and learning methods- use of technology etc but what you say about the amount of pressure and stress the younger generation nowadays has to brave? During your school or college days, you exhibited lesser stress due to lesser competition, lesser tuition expenditures, and lesser expectations and lesser accountability for your academic results and grades, compared to the present day students. If you passed an examination even just at the par line, your family, relatives and friends rolled out the red carpet for you with lots of appreciation showered. This further lowered the stress in you and acted as a morale raiser. And even if you failed to deliver, everyone used to take it as normal because of lesser competition existing during your college days and hence backed you up for the next try. Nowadays, accountability to the family, and relatives regarding academics and results, the competition and the expectations have increased drastically, hence limiting the freeness of mind and putting a student into a situation of stress and anxiety with a lowered self-esteem.
The foremost thing for a student to achieve great heights is the serenity and mental freedom, not the finances. When you are calm, free from stress and anxiety, your mind is more active and can work effectively. State of mind plays an important role in success.
Money is not the only thing that a student needs from his parents to do good in academics and become well settled later on. I find people considering only financial needs of a student. Money is important but not everything. Psychological needs are more important than all other needs. A student needs psychological backing- love, care and support more than the financial backing- money. Besides assuring financial needs,it is equally or more important to assure the psychological needs of a student. Parents and relatives need to assure students that no matter what, we will always be there for you to cherish and provide all the love and support. We all know that parents love their children more than anyone else, the love and support is absolute and an unconditional one but showing that love is more important. You need to talk to them politely and value their decisions to let them know how much you love and back them.
Expectations, competition and tuition expenditures all are directly proportional to the stress and anxiety. These days, we see thousands and lakhs of rupees being spent on the academics of the students by their parents by getting them admitted into the reputed schools, collages and coaching institutes. This huge amount of money spent on the academics is one of the main reasons behind the rising level of stress in the minds of students. The only thing that circulates within the mind of such a student is- if i don’t get settled with a good job, how can i face my parents who have spent all their hard earned money on me. How can i face my relatives and the society. He always feels insecure regarding his career. Have you ever thought about it that how painful is it for a student to be in such a situation.
My purpose of writing this article is not to compare the school and collage days sufferings of older generations and the present generations but to put forward the condition of a present day students. Through this write up I want to break the stereotypical thinking of linking and making financial needs directly proportional to success. I want to address the people particularly parents and relatives of students to think about the amount of stress, worries and anxiety their wards go through in schools and colleges. This rising level of stress and anxiety has lead to the use of hydrochloride medicines heavily, leading to the rising level of drug abuse. We need to take all this into consideration in order to help such students. There will be no need for students to take such pills and surf on youtube for motivational videos if their parents show that love and support and convince them that no matter what is the situation we are always there for you. This love and support is enough to inspire them to aspire to a career in their respective fields and achieve their goals.
