I wonder if anything is turning the
young girls violent. It is a trend to blame violent computer games
for violent attitudes of young boys these days. But I know for a fact
that the girls do not play these games. It must be something else.
I was conducting prelims for the
undergraduate exam going students. The I asked the same questions to
all candidates I examined, and the answers left much to be desired.
One girl was particularly less well prepared than others.
“Are you related to xxx or yyy?” I
asked. These two persons with the same surname as hers were known to
me and I could talk to them about getting her to study more, if they were related.
“No” she said briefly.
“From where have you come?” I asked
her.
“U.P.” she said.
“So you must have studied well and
scored well in the All India Entrance Test and come to this premier
institute.”
“Yes” she said.
“If you could study well then, why
are not studying now?” I asked in a mild voice.
“.......” she probably had no
answer or did not think the question worthy of an answer.
“What will you do after M.B.B.S.?”
I asked, knowing well that everyone passed that exam some time or
other, usually at the first attempt.
“Postgraduation” she said in a tone
that suggested that it was a ridiculous question.
“In which subject?” I asked.
“Pediatrics” she said. She seemed
pretty confident she would get it, no matter how poor her preparation
was.
“Good.” I said. “Do not choose
obstetrics and gynecology. You will do better in other subjects.”
She got up and went away, shooting me a
glance that was much more than dark, venomous or whatever adjective
that you can think of. If she had laser power in her eyes, she would
have drilled a hole right in the middle of my forehead, going through and through to exit through the occipital bone.
The next day I was conducting an
interview for selection of Assistant Professors. I asked one
candidate about obstetric forceps after she had answered other
questions. I have written about her before. She was a good candidate,
one of the other experts had vouched after the interview.
“What is correct axis of application
of obstetric forceps?” I asked.
She started with a long description. I
stopped her. “Just tell me the axis of application” I said.
“It is applied over the parietal
bones” she said, in a tone that suggested my question had really no answer, that this was the nearest she could offer as an answer.
“That is almost the entire vault of
the skull” I said. “That cannot be the axis. All right. You can
go.”
She got up and shot me a glance before
going away. The glance was an exact replica of the one I had received
the day before.
I have spent 32 years as a teacher. I
have always praised good students. I have criticized bad ones in a
positive way, so that they would try and improve. None of them have
looked at me with looks that could kill, if looks were guns. Now two girls had done that on two consecutive days. I have
been wondering what makes them so these days. To be unable to take
justified criticism and not wanting to improve is not the hallmark of a
physician at any stage of his or her life, definitely not at the
beginning. I wonder if it is praise and praise alone at all times,
justified or not, that makes them so? I wonder if the time has come for me
to stop offering any correction or criticism, though I know I have to
do it as a teacher.
