Board Exam Scores vis-a-vis Success in Life

Has anyone done a study which would discover if there is any relationship between an individual's scores in board exams and success in life.....my point being, in the Indian context, there doesnt seem to be any.

A couple of months ago, a newspaper interview ing students exiting the board examination halls had quoted a students as saying......"the question paper was difficult....we had to think"........The least it did was set me thinking.......

Today's newspaper had a story about how St. Stephen's in Delhi is finding it difficult to publish a 'cut off' list for admissions as the students have been scoring very high marks. For a fact, there are kids scoring over 95 percent marks in the English language. And I am thinking, what is happening? Perhaps, the only objective of exams is to get admissions. But then I would find reason if the college admissions were for career linked courses and/or vocational courses...! If that is not the case then, the questions occurring in my mind are multiple.
Not to get rhetorical about that, all I can say is that Life Education is something else! Look around yourself and indulge in a quick survey of people - are the most successful (even if you take wealth as a measure of success) the top scorers from their classes? You would probably find little or no relationship between these two...Learning can not be limited by exams. Learning is for life and marks in board exams are probably only hampering the learning process.

Class Lecture Vs Dialogue

I have been teaching a couple of topics in Retail Management for close to 5 years now. I do this at a couple of B Schools and what an experience it has been....something I would never want to give up. I enjoy sharing knowledge and I also enjoy students doing the same. Learning then becomes a shared and effortless process.

This has also reiterated my belief in self-education. All the topics thatI teach are things I have learned on my own - building up the knowledge first through my experience working in retail and then acquiring knowledge and keeping up with the business info. The analysis, understanding comes.....

Whatever be the case, the maximum learning in a classroom happens with dialogue. There are lectures too - but they are open and in effect are actually conversations in themselves or encourage conversations....

This probably also rules out what is traditionally referred to as class discipline. Just like self education, there is no discipline like self discipline. Of course, in India students find it difficult to jump into a college from a school just because of the stark difference in approach and the difference in expectations out of them. While at school, she is treated like a child, suddenly there is the onus of everything - learning, career etc on her. So, at times there is an imbalance. best to encourage self learning from childhood and then see it become pervasive all through her life.....