School related chagrin

1:
MANY of my friends from high-school agree when I say that studies was and is more important than anything else in our school. But some teachers seriously din't know where to draw the line. If a child did badly in school, they would stop smiling at her. We would wish them enthusiastically "Namaste ma'm" only to be glared at. I don't know if this is true only of the school I went to, I haven't heard similar stories from others. We were kids for heavens-sake, its not like we did badly because we were mean people. I was NEVER a good student at high-school, needless to say I was one of those unlucky few. I always ended up pondering "Am I a mean person?"

2:
OK, seriously, what's with the science is better than commerce and computer-science is better than biology attitude, especially in an educational institution. Shouldn't the teachers know better? This is how it worked where I studied and am sure in lots of other institutions.

math + science % >95% - Computer science
math + science % >90% - Engineering drawing(BTW this wasn't available for girls)
math + science % >85% - Biology
math + science % < 85% - Commerce

Now, how ridiculous can things get? Does this mean people who are incapable of memorizing a few formulae should be forced into commerce? Or that commerce is inferior in some convoluted way? Oh and if you secure low grades and if you want to be in science, too bad, you have to change schools, this institution is prestigious. Some would argue, "oh there is so much competition, how else do they select students?" A schools job is not to select the best few and churn good results. What's the schools contribution then, apart from conducting routine exams? You don't need schools to do that, you can get that from a coaching class. And the sad part is most students in such institutions including myself attended classes outside in order to perform well. Please let the students decide what they want to do. They shouldn't have to give up dreams of becoming doctors and engineers because they did badly in a stupid 10th grade exam.

I do have friends who went to other schools and while there are some with similar experiences, there are also those who love their alma mater and are proud of the kind of academic freedom they had and the kind of rapport they shared with their teachers. And these are not students who were at the top of their class. But they are just as successful now. Every single time I hear one of their stories, I feel sad and envious. Doesn't this say something about their schools?

More to follow in my future posts ...............