I for one detest examinations. I hate them. They are a bug-bear for me. They come to me like an electric shock. They destroy my peace of mind. They get on my nerves. They are a sort of a nightmare for me. I tremble and shudder at the very thought hem.
Examinations encourage cramming. I cannot cram. I cannot memorize set answerers to set questions. I am unable to mug up. Unintelligent cramming leads to stunting of the thinking power. They are a farce.
The examiners themselves are not sure how to mark the papers. To the same answer an examiner gave three different awards at three different times. He, at his whim, once failed the candidate by giving him only three marks out of ten and at another time, presumably in a blissful mood, gave him a first class.
A student may play cricket for 11 months in a year and yet get through by unfair means. Another student may work hard throughout the year, may unfortunately fall ill during the examination days and be thus declared unsuccessful. Is it justice? Is it fair play? It is a mockery, is a tamasha.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Papers of a lucky candidate may go to a lenient examiner, while bad luck may take yours to a stiff one. A marginal case may pass at the hands of one examiner and fail at the hands of another. It is all a lottery. A lucky one may draw a prize ticket. While an unlucky one may draw blank.
The mood of an examiner counts a lot. If he has fallen out with his short tempered wife, he may fail you. An examiner, who has just received news of his promotion to class one, would like to share his luck with his examinees. Are then examinations a true test of one’s ability?
Examinations are a plague. They are blood-suckers. Their aft effects are pale cheeks and sunken eyes, grey hair and physical and mental disorders. A number of young men go mad year after year a result of these examinations. Many more commit suicide for fear of or after failing in them. How said! How deplorable.
These examinations are a game of chance and skill. They kill originality. They play with the health and the very lives of the student I, therefore, detest and condemn them.