Qualities of a student for a bright future

A student’s life is not a rosy one in spite of the childhood period he is in. Childhood is supposed to be a golden period for every human being. We enjoy our life to the full without much responsibility and fear of anything in childhood. However, the period of enjoyment gets over the moment student enters school or even playschools. The indirect push of parents to make the student a parrot capable of reciting all kinds of tables and texts against their basic desire destroys his very foundation.

As the student grows, the performance pressure becomes huge while the sense of identity has not developed. This creates confusion, low self-esteem, and unnecessary tears. A student gets judged right from the early days and parents long to see the genius.

The education system in earlier times also known as the “Gurukul System” laid out qualities expected in a student very clearly. Times may have changed but the relevance of these student qualities will never change.

The qualities were decided to ensure that the student grasps the knowledge imparted in the gurukuls clearly and made the most of their student life.

However, students find it hard to connect with these qualities probably due to the generation gap. But if you observe carefully a bright student with a keen interest in learning, you will find the same qualities to exist in them.

Student Qualities as per Gyana Yoga

Perseverance of a crow ( काक चेष्ट )

Crows are known to be hardworking and live their life accordingly. They do not shy from hard work and are known to be very smart. Remember the story of the crow who wanted to drink from a pot?

Students should have the perseverance of a crow to achieve his goal of excelling in education. He needs to slog over the studies until he gets the result. The slogging is not a day or two’s work but till he finishes his formal education.

Students generally study during the exams and try to memorize the formulas at last moment. Instead, they should slog the whole year even if for an hour every day instead of studying whole nights in the last days.

Motivate Students

The concentration of a crane ( बको ध्यानं)

While working as a part-time admission counselor for my institute, I often came across parents who complained that their kid was not able to concentrate on studies. I had a challenging time explaining to them that this is the age they explore stuff around them and studies is just one part of it.

Still, concentration is a big challenge that needs to be addressed. Curious students do not face this issue as curiosity makes them sit for hours at stretch to solve whatever they have been looking for. Raising curiosity in students is what parents and teachers should aim for.

Parents should keep their kids away from distracting stuff like mobiles, the internet at an early age and instead make them connect to things like newspapers, magazines, colors music, etc. This will develop their concentration and a love for education.

The sleep of a dog (स्वान निद्रा )

A night of good sleep is very much required for the development of mind and body. Parents should teach the discipline of waking up early and going for games and sports. Ideally, they should lead the kids instead of just waking and pushing them off to the field.

To wake up early, they need to sleep early and hence should stay away from the electronic gadgets common nowadays. With lots of streaming facilities like Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon prime and more available, this is a big task. Parents need to ensure that the kid sleeps early and does not get addicted to those TV serials or cartoon abundantly available.

When students start waking up early, you see them doing well in academics as they start seizing the day. The discipline gets converted to better academic performance.

Eats in the limit (स्वल्पहारी )

Eating as per the need and not resorting to gluttony applies to all human beings but more importantly to students. Overeating results in sleep disorder and shifts the student's focus from studies to the pleasures of life.

What a kid eats is decided by parents mostly in Indian households. Parents should aim to provide nutritious foods that add to the growth of their kids. Simply put, provide good food and teach the students to avoid all the junk foods available on the streets.

Strength and ability to leave home (गृहत्यागी )

In the gurukul era, students would leave the comfort of homes and stay at their guru’s place to study. They stayed there as long as their education lasted signifying the importance of education in the earlier period.

Now, the students do not leave for schooling as such but for college-level education, they do have to go away from their home city mostly.

This basically refers to the student’s preference for education to a homely shelter. Mostly, students are eager to fly the moment possible. Parents on the other hand (and rightly so) find it very difficult to cope with their kids leaving home after schooling. They sometimes choose a college nearby little realizing that a choice like this may have far-reaching implications.

Reason students lack qualities

So what is stopping students from acquiring these qualities? Let’s look at a few of them.

Fast food culture

Kids enjoy fast food and look forward to the next outing with their friends and family. Instead of favoring the nutritious food made at home, junk food is consumed more, especially in metros. The fast-food culture impacts the health of students and also their inclination to education.

Release stress before exam

Score well in Exams

Mobile phone, online games, and electronic gadgets

Having the world on the fingertip at such an early age can be a lot for students. Instead of looking more at the books, they stare at those screens to kill the time.

Video games, chatting, and mindless social media addiction kill the interest in studies slowly and steadily. Parents should make sure, that such distractions are kept away from students and guided properly.

Educating students to use these online tools in a more fruitful way like video tutorials, online books and courses should be encouraged instead. In summer vacations, they can be motivated to join such online courses to add value to their education.

Rat Race culture

Parents in their right senses push their kids to top their classes. Instead, they should focus on the learning part of education. The rat race to top the class soon burns out the students and they start losing interest. By the time they go to colleges, the spirit of learning sometimes disappears completely.

Equal emphasis on non-curriculum learning should be done for the all-round development of the student.

Loss of creativity

In the Indian education system, not a lot of emphasis gets placed on creativity. Instead, the focus is more on scoring which takes away the fun part from learning.

Both teachers and parents should bring in creative aspects in different ways. Inculcation of good hobbies is one such way of bringing in creativity to the student's life.

Instead of pushing students to acquire these traits, parents should engage kids in games in developing them slowly. What is the use of topping the class in the primary division and scoring an average in higher classes due to the burn out faced over the years?

Parents need to realize and accept that kids are born intelligent and creative enough. They will eventually find their way and all they need is love and care and some guidance.

Traits like being intelligent, smart and able to memorize are temporary student qualities and one can lose them in life. But the above-mentioned traits with their judicious interpretation are what form the basis of a strong foundation and a good life. Focus on student qualities like sincerity, honesty, and respect which makes a man.