Marks Don’t Matter, We’re a Lot More Than a Percentage

Nowadays, there is immense importance given to Board exams, but do marks actually matter in the long run?

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

“Intelligence and character is the goal of true education,” Martin Luther King Jr had said.

All through school and now college, I have been told that marks matter, the score you get has the potential to make or break your future. The perfect percentage doesn’t exist because there is always someone who’ll score better in one subject or the other. And this, unfortunately, puts a lot of pressure on the students.

It starts with the subject choices we have to make when we pass Class 10. More often than not, there is a lot of thought put into it as these subjects determine the college, career and future for us.

The pressure is immense as everyone wants the best for themselves and so we all compete to outshine others.

This is not a rant about our education system or Boards in general, it’s simply an anecdote by a person who has been through it.

We are often stuck between two contrasting statements that are used commonly: “Marks don’t matter” and “How will you get into a good college if you don’t score well?”

Nowadays, there is immense importance given to Board exams, but do the marks actually matter in the long run?

Don’t students who can’t get through institutes like IIT, TISS, LSR or NLU do well in life? The answer is – in the long run, marks may not be the only thing if you have the skill or knack for something else.

Yes, getting a good score and graduating from a good college may give you a comfortable life, but it is not the only medium. Students who are average in studies could be so because they can’t study through conventional methods or cope up with pressure. Yet, they can do well in life if they have any other skills, which they can work on.

Having a proper plan in place helps, like working on weak points. Marks could matter, a good college tag and a good placement are important, but not so much for it to be the last thing in the world. Yes, Board exams are important and a person should study all they can towards getting marks, but these do not decide our future in the absolute sense. There is much more to us than a percentage.

What could make a person successful is the ability to see the rat race and understand that it isn’t the end of the world!