TOPICS OF THE DAY:-“A poor record”
The Panapakkam girls are reported to have been scolded by a teacher for their poor academic performance and told to call their parents. The girls decided to avoid that ordeal and embraced death instead, thereby displaying another familiar characteristic of the adolescent mind, namely, its preference for camaraderie in taking a decision. As a nation, our record of dealing with adolescents is rather poor. To be an adolescent means that you don’t feel comfortable with what all is going on around you, but older people don’t find it easy to deal with you. This is partly because adolescent behaviour is often prickly and petulant. The larger reason, however, is that adolescents live in an ideal world and measure everyone, including parents and teachers, by their utopian standards. This is not merely an emotional response to an imperfect world; it is also proof of their fully developed logical capacity. By defying the adults surrounding them, adolescents develop their own identity as individuals. This is not easy, so they depend on their peers to plan and decide. Their private fantasies are mostly benign and transformative. We can say that adolescent dreams represent a nation’s wealth. In India, this wealth is mostly burnt up in preparation for examinations. Ignoring or oppressing adolescents is not uncommon in other countries, but India’s case is somewhat extreme. Over more than a century, our system of schooling has honed its tools to oppress and defeat the adolescent. The tool used to subdue the rebellious adolescent mind is the Board examination. The term ‘board’ has acquired connotations of terror for the young on account of the darkness into which it pushes them before some are let back out into normal light and further education. Boards of examinations maintain a tight secrecy over how a young student will be marked and declared either ‘pass’ or ‘fail’. Social history is rife with instances of unwarranted failure and opprobrium of family seniors. The matriculation examination is part of family lore in every part of India. Fear of failing in it and thereby closing all doors to a worthwhile future figures in many autobiographies written during the colonial period. Examination mania is instilled into the young mind from the start of primary schooling. Popular understanding of education, which is widely shared in political and official circles, equates learning with performance on tests. The nationwide industry that specialises in offering help in passing examinations and entrance tests makes no distinction between cramming, cheating and learning. The Class X examination continues to ‘fail’ millions every summer.
WORDS AND MEANINGS
1) Ordeal
Meaning: A very unpleasant and prolonged experience.
Example: “The ordeal of having to give evidence”
Synonyms: Trial, Tribulation
2) Embraced
Meaning: Accept (a belief, theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically.
Example: “Besides traditional methods, artists are embracing new technology”
Synonyms: Welcome, accept
Antonyms: Reject
3) Camaraderie
Meaning: Mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together.
Example: “The enforced camaraderie of office life”
Synonyms: Friendship, Comradeship
4) Prickly
Meaning: (Of a person) ready to take offence.
Example: “She came across as prickly and generally difficult”
Synonyms: Irritable, Irascible
Antonyms: Affable, Easy-going
5) Petulant
Meaning: (Of a person or their manner) childishly sulky or bad-tempered.
Example: “He was moody and petulant”
6) Utopian
Meaning: Modelled on or aiming for a state in which everything is perfect; idealistic.
Example: “A utopian ideology”
Synonyms: Unworldly, Non-materialistic
Antonyms: Materialistic, Real-life, realistic
7) Merely
Meaning: Just; only.
Example: “Gary, a silent boy, merely nodded”
Synonyms: Only, Purely
8) Peers
Meaning: Look with difficulty or concentration at someone or something.
Example: “Faye peered at her with suspicion”
Synonyms: Squint, Look closely/earnestly
9) Benign
Meaning: Gentle and kind.
Example: “His benign but firm manner”
Synonyms: Kindly, Friendly
Antonyms: Unfriendly, Hostile
10) Burnt up
Meaning: To have a bad fever.
Example: “You’re burning up!” she said, touching his forehead.
11) Oppressing
Meaning: Keep (someone) in subjection and hardship, especially by the unjust exercise of authority.
Example: “A system which oppressed working people”
Synonyms: Persecute, Abuse
12) Honed
Meaning: Sharpen (a blade).
Example: “He was carefully honing the curved blade”
Synonyms: Sharpen, make sharper
Antonyms: Blunt
13) Subdue
Meaning: Overcome, quieten, or bring under control (a feeling or person).
Example: “She managed to subdue an instinct to applaud”
Synonyms: Conquer, Defeat
14) Rebellious
Meaning: Engaged in opposition or armed resistance to an established government or leader.
Example: “The rebellious republics”
Synonyms: Rebel, Insurgent
Antonyms: Obedient, Law-abiding
15) Connotations
Meaning: An idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Example: “The word ‘discipline’ has unhappy connotations of punishment and repression”
Synonyms: Overtone, undertone
16) Rife
Meaning: (Especially of something undesirable) of common occurrence; widespread.
Example: “Male chauvinism was rife in medicine”
Synonyms: Widespread, General
Antonyms: Scarce, Unknown
17) Opprobrium
Meaning: Harsh criticism or censure.
Example: “The critical opprobrium generated by his films”
Synonyms: Vilification, Abuse
Antonyms: Praise
18) Lore
Meaning: A body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth.
Example: “The jinns of Arabian lore”
Synonyms: Mythology, Myths
19) Cramming
Meaning: Study intensively over a short period of time just before an examination.
Example:”Lectures were called off so students could cram for the semester finals”
Synonyms: Study intensively, Revise
