It appears to me that dragging oneself through ‘O’ Levels is a Herculean task.
LAHORE: Are you sure the ‘O’ in ‘O’ Level doesn’t stand for Overburdened? Although it may be my own insignificant, teenage-angst ridden perception, but it seems as though the institution of education has been bogged down in a muddle of competition. Sporting a malicious my-child-is-smarter-than-yours-grin, parents parade their academically-blessed offspring before the world, making them seem like prize pumpkins at a county fair rather than individuals. These proud patriarchs have successfully established unbelievable expectations of students, which they believe, is their primary duty to meet.
The gruelling commences as early as one’s first day as a student. Success is made your life motto, as you are encumbered with an abominably complex schedule. Even if your report card is cavalcading with A*s, you are in some field, lacking. Paper patterns should be memorised. Books literally swallowed. Dictionaries learnt. Essays doused with Latin phrases and advanced literary techniques. If you are not an award-winning violinist, a prodigal mathematician, or an outrageously eloquent speaker then you, my friend, are a failure. And underachievement, as we all know, is a blemish incapable of airbrushing. It allots you a position equivalent to that of a miscreant, and if you *gasp* fail, you might as well hand over a coin to Charon.
It appears to me that dragging oneself through ‘O’ Levels is a Herculean task, and under the scathing eyes of our overly-competitive society, one that is becoming exceedingly insufferable.
Eiman Tariq Bajwa
Lahore Grammar School, Defence
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
