If you thought that education, entrance exams and college education was stressful in India, then go right ahead and read the following news bit from National Public Radio on South Korea and the college entrance exam there.
Here is an excerpt…
“The test, which is given once a year, largely determines a young person’s future. It is so important that aircraft are barred from flying near the test site, and the workday begins an hour late, to prevent traffic jams that might make students late….
At Jogyesa, the largest Buddhist temple in Seoul, monk Bon Gong performed a ceremony where parents prayed for high scores on their children’s college placement exams. Some had been praying for the past 100 days.
As parents and grandparents chanted, they knelt and bowed, facing three statues. Many concentrated on a thin prayer book with a photo of their child or children. Some had prayer beads, called yumju, circling the pictures…“
Apparently we are not alone in this.
damn. what a messed up system we’ve created.
just 50 yrs ago, school / college weren’t all that popular. i wish we could reverse this ‘development’.
Sands: A mid point would be ideal, don’t you think? This kind of pressure is just pure insanity!
I still dont like to think about my 12th std days. What pressure, most of it self-inflicted.
WTF!!! Kunj and Nish took me to the temple during exams but it was more for time pass than anything else.. went during prasadam time and hogged on that “neyyu payasam”.. with ghee and jaggery! yumm!!
Ridiculous. I have seen some poojas requested in temples in Bangalore too before board exams.
@ TPL: Am not sure about the self inflicted. Don’t know which part of India you grew up in but where I grew up, your life depended on the scores coming out of that 12th grade. That was just a horrible feeling!
You are such a trooper with totally different priorities!
@ Yo: Knowing you am not one bit surprised
@ AJ: I know. That was a given when we took our boards. My BIL would joke that he would bribe God with a dime to make sure he scored high on all exams but the bribe was doubled just for his math exam
on a Completely unrelated topic…I found AJ and wanted to be the 1st to share with you that I found her only to see this morning that you had not only found her, but dined and dated her and God knows what else!!
And AJ, I can’t comment on your post today!!! Had some out of the box thoughts for you!!
Sands: