The opportunity cost of being a serial exam-prepper
A worrisome phenomenon that just doesn't seem to fade away
And then there was silence — Aditi and Prarav quietly gazed at their affogatos and almond croissants; oh wait, there's Indiranagar's famous French toast too!
Hi! I'm here, on the adjacent table — those of you reading this from beyond the unpaved and #alwaysdugup microcosm of the 100 feet road, Paper and Pie, a hip work cafe here in Indiranagar, Bangalore, is usually crazy busy on weekends, filled with murmuring of hundreds of conversations and yet here I was, seeking a cure for my writer's block.
Back to Aditi and Pranav, uh, how do I know their names? Well, the way they greeted each other, ADITI! PRANAV! I'm pretty sure the entire cafe knows them by now. Typical teenage loud-talkers, I tell ya.
These two teeners wearing their oversized tees started their chatter with colorful exaggerations of their respective high-school drama, ordered some yum, yum food (which I approve of), and right before it showed up, Pranav asked the dreaded question, "So, how's the prep goin?"
The food was now on the table, and then there was silence — a minute passed by and then another. Aditi took a sip, dropped her head with a heavy sigh, and said "I don't know ya, it's too overwhelming! I'm, like, prepping for six exams. I'm giving JEE Mains, BITSAT, COMEDK, DAT, UCEED, and yeah, CUET. Is it just me, or there is no time at all for anything in life anymore?"
Pranav nodded vigorously in agreement — munching on his French toast, he declared, "I'm pretty sure I'm going to, like, flunk my 12th boards." Aditi, with a smirk, reacts, "Aye! Too much ya! You were like in the top 10 in your 11th na."
"Yeah, that was 11th, when I had time for school (in air quotes). The day 12th started, all I do is spend my waking hours preparing for these #%@*&%! entrance exams! I can’t even remember the last time I did something fun — the moment I wake up, all I do is lug around that 60,000-page study material from my coaching, where I spend more time than at my own house or those online live sessions, because why not? 12 hours of prep in a windowless cage is obvio not enough!"
Pranav responded in a visibly frustrated tone, and for some reason, I could feel the nerve-wracking stress of these poor young souls. But then my first thought was, "Don't you worry, it's just one year, this too shall pass."
Then I realized, does it though?
A quick guide on how to wreck your teens and 20s
Millions of Aditis and Pranavs across the country engage in this years-long endeavor of "cracking entrance exams," starting as soon as middle school when they are as young as 12, and the joyless (?) quest continues till they reach their mid-to-late 20s.
By then, the counterproductive spirit of zero-sum mechanics is so ingrained in one's personality that it becomes almost impossible to let go of the idea that for one to win, others must lose.
The following text is a satirical representation of the current state of education in India. If you do not enjoy satire, feel free to skip to the next section.
It starts right after one’s twelveth birthday when the newly minted teen is thrown into the arena of this Hunger-Games-styled battleground to compete with millions of others — all vying for the same glorious future of being part of a small set of extremely selective universities.
The perceived social capital of being part of an old, prestigious institute is so alluring that one is willing (or unwillingly forced to!) to sacrifice the best years of their life — it doesn't matter you're just turned 12, it's time to get serious about "securing the future" by giving up on frivolous activities like acting your age, being curious, experimentative — because, hey, if it's not part of the exam syllabus, you better not waste time on that!
So, you are dead set to play the game of setting-life-goals-based-on-unrealistic-societal-expectations? Welcome aboard, mate - the rules are pretty simple.
To begin with, spend the rest of your middle school living in self-doubt about your competence by constantly one-upping your peers, and the only metric to care for is your report card grades — make sure you score A+ and above across the subjects, as even a single B can push you to the bottom tier, so yeah, no pressure :)
Pro-tip: Don't bother about deeply grasping the subjects — you can forget what you learned the moment you step out of the exam center. Remember, grades matter, knowledge, not so much. This keeps you agile as you always remain empty-headed.
Done? Alrighty, time for Level 2
This level has two pathways, but both are equally miserable, so feel free to pick one with an inky-pinky-ponky knockout — you can either choose to stay at home and join a coaching center or go to a new destination, the cram-school capital of India and pick from hundreds of residential experiences that will push your mental wellbeing to its limits.
The sole purpose of these cram, oh my bad, I mean coaching institutes is to undermine your self-confidence and make you feel worthless, which they will mostly succeed in. Only a few leave these territories not being scarred for life, so just give in to the pressure and do what they say without questioning the authority. Got it, comrade?
The best part about this extraordinary experience — these centers are extremely good at sucking the humanity out of you and take immense pride in making you an exceptional exam-writing drone. Believe me, once you commit to the system, all you'll care about for the next two years is cracking exams and nothing else! Who cares about personality development and intellectual curiosity? It's for losers anyways.
They will employ every possible tactic in the book (or should I say study material!?) to convince your uninitiated prefrontal cortex that the way of life they are preaching is indeed the only way worth living and if you're not spending 16 hours a day preparing for entrance exams during your teenage years, especially using their number-one, best-ever prep resources, you're committing the greatest sin in the history of human existence.
Phew, alright, it seems you have survived the grueling two years, so now it's time for the final showdown (sort of!)
Dun, dun, dunnnnn! Be prepared to juggle half a dozen entrance exams along with your boards over the next several weeks.
This weeks-long showdown tests your context-switching and endurance skills, but no matter how good you are, it comes down to luck anyways — it's not that someone who scored a few points less than the cutoff is any less competent to pursue their desired undergrad major, but hey, it's an awful lot of fun to taunt and demoralize the teens — “you should’ve worked harder, now you go figure whatever that means!”
I guess it's time for a commercial break — so let me introduce you to Mr. Grinch while you wait for your results. Over to you, sir.
Hehehe, hello hello! I'm Grinch. Exam-prep grinch. I can twist my head, and I can trick your mind. I can make you believe whatever I desire 😈
I know, I know, now's a good time for you to self-reflect on your experiences so far and think about ways to make more independent, informed decisions about life, but hey, hey, you fellas are too exhausted to do any of that — so enjoy binging on Netflix K-drama and don’t you dare chill.
Finally, the results are out, and you ... hmm ... didn't clear the entrance with a “worthy” rank — sorry to call you out, but you're a LOSER! Oh, got a decent rank but couldn't secure an admit at one of the top 5 universities — you, my friend, are a bigger LOSER.
Oh, oh, got selected at one of the top five, but couldn't get into the specialization that offers 8-figure paycheck right after graduation? — haha, you're the WORST! It doesn't matter if it's the major of your interest — if we, the kingmakers at coaching institutes deem that it has no future, it has no future, period!
These exams are designed to leave exactly six students happy about their decisions and outcomes, so the rest of you million ‘lost aspirants’, it's time to aspire again!
Even before the first day of college starts, enrol yourself to prepare for the post-grad and civil services entrance exams. What college life? Nonsense! You losers need to realize that if you don't play this game of Great Indian Entrance Tamasha, you’re a burden to humankind.
How do I explain this!? We’ve got a multi-billion dollar market to protect, fellas — and this exam-prep market feeds on your naive younghood and boundless optimism. It thrives when you give up on your own endeavours and make exam-prepping the ultimate purpose of your life — at least until you're 30, because after that, you’re too wise to fall for this bullsh*t anyways.
Hehehe, I guess my job here is done. You guys have been a lovely audience, and I hope to see you … never.
Renaissance or a generational crisis — Well, it’s on us to decide!
Alright, /end satire, time for some real talk.
As the most populous nation on the planet, we have hit a once-in-a-generation jackpot. We have the largest young working age demographics, a near-double-digit growth rate and a modern, progressive education policy (more on this in an upcoming post).
Add to that, a large base of tech talent that is globally sought-after and a collective shift of our political ideologies towards economic health is a welcome move too.
But here’s the hard truth — what got us here, won't get us there
Turns out the sought-after talent represents just about 3.8% of the graduates — millions remain unemployed years after graduation. Most of them might have learned the technical skills in their undergrad, but no one taught them the value of the spirit of experimentation or exposed them to cross-cultural team dynamics to effectively collaborate with global teams, undermining their success in modern work environments.
What's worse? This phenomenon of mindless exam-prepping has already played out in other Asian nations with devastating societal effects.
In a number of Asian societies such as China, South Korea and Taiwan, there is a single exam that effectively determines the course of individuals' lives. In China, it is called the "gaokao," a shorter Chinese term for the intense multi-day ordeal that makes Western standardized university entrance exams look like a pleasant walk in the park. The test is so notoriously difficult, the competition so fierce, and the outcome so important, that parents across the entire socioeconomic spectrum spend exorbitant sums of money to send their children to "cram schools," or after-school tutoring academies where students continue studying late into the night. Tuition fees are so expensive that middle class and low-income parents spend most of their income on these cram schools, and for this reason most of them cannot afford to have more than one child due to all the costs involved.
The costs for schooling children is one reason that has led to a historically low birth rate for China (and South Korea) and presents a big problem for a nation with ambitions to maintain its status as an economic powerhouse. (Source - US News)
A lot many of us may not realize the power of a large, healthy, young population for our collective national prosperity. The India growth story and its economic engine is entirely dependent on it, and so are our young children and aging parents who need our well-deserved support in the form of quality social security systems.
A rising tide lifts all boats — by growing the economic pie, we can support both the economic and the unique socio-cultural characteristics of our society. When the economy thrives, culture thrives, art thrives, morality thrives.
So, a large, healthy, young population is enough to make this possible?
Nope! We need an intellectually curious, naively optimistic, and playfully anarchic "large, healthy, young population” to pull this off. Confused what that even means? Watch this inspiring commencement speech by Mark Rober, one of my favorite YouTubers, who talks about this in depth — I don't think I can do a better job than this.
It's time to think beyond fighting for the same pie by growing the very pie 🥧
And we grow this pie by creating exceptional value that the world consumes. We create exceptional value by nurturing the spirit of curiosity, collaboration and creative experimentation, right from middle school.
The new education policy has taken a step in the right direction by introducing several new skill subjects that prepare our young students to face the new economy and evolving social constructs — the very content they learn today might not be relevant by the time they graduate, but the meta-skills gained by being exposed to these hands-on subjects will have a tremendous positive impact in their professional and possibly in personal lives as well.
And to make this possible, we need to empower our schools with more firepower. It's time we all collectively redirect the billions of dollars spent on exam-prep mania to help schools invest in these ambitious new initiatives.
Just a fraction of the total money this country spends on exam-prep can have compounding returns, both in terms of economic prosperity and, most importantly, in nurturing a generation of well-rounded, bold citizens who believe they can tackle any challenge, be it economic or social, by working collaboratively with their fellow citizens.
By eliminating the propagation of this crabs-in-a-bucket mindset that the multi-billion dollar exam-prep industry aggressively pushes for, influencing our teens’ impressionable minds …
… it's high time we teach them the value of embracing unique individualities and the superpower of team spirit.
"From the freedom to explore comes the joy of learning. From knowledge acquired by personal initiative arises the desire for more knowledge. And from mastery of the novel and beautiful world awaiting every child comes self-confidence."
~ E. O. Wilson
All right folks, it's time to wrap up! Thanks for reading, and I would love to hear your thoughts. You can reach out to me through email or LinkedIn. Not active on other socials for now. See ya!