A Smokescreen For Underperformance…

I remember the excuses we used to give for underperforming or failing in tests…<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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The most common ones used to be ‘It was out of syllabus’ or “the teacher showed partiality… So and so has been given full marks …and she has cut my marks though I have written the same answer…” We even used to try the time-tested one, ‘ The paper was too lengthy and there was no time to finish all the answers.’<o></o>
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Now- a -days, kids are more savvy. They know that parenting is a new kettle of fish, what with all these 'psychological angle' to raising kids… Parents can be easily emotionally blackmailed…so we find generations of new excuses: “The teacher didn’t explain it” or “the teacher said it was not important” or “some other teacher set the paper…” and “there’s favouritism going on at school… and I am the victim.” The classic ones like, “My friend borrowed my notes and didn't return it” , “I forgot my pencil (pen...geometry box…) and no one lent me theirs” and even the brazen “ I didn’t know we had a test today” are in vogue. And for those ‘fixated- on- child- psychology’ parents, the bold kids can get away even with “ It is boring…” or “ It is too difficult” or “Don’t pressurize me” or even a very smart “My teacher says I have a learning disorder…”<o></o>
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Street-smart kids would never say, “The TV disturbs me” meaning the parents’ watching TV programs hinder their studies because that would result in the forfeiture of their own TV time… TV and music have become the background for serious study… Like my young nephew who insists on JETIX in the background while he writes his homework… or many teens who have their MP3 players or I Pods wired into their aural orifices while ‘concentrating on studying’…<o></o>
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Any way, kids have another excuse to add to their Excuse Bank… Scientists have declared recently, in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1lace>London</st1lace></st1:City>, that smoking parents can affect the academic performances of their kids… Hah! I thought, on reading the news. In my days, parents smoked ( fumed and even blazed…) after seeing our academic performance. Teenagers exposed to passive smoking are likely to fail as exposure to secondhand smoke can interfere with academic performance… What a corny statement… What about ‘first hand smoke’ then? <o></o>
As a parent I find the analysis very disturbing… for the study says nearly 60 percent of children are exposed to smoke at home… I can’t calm myself saying…oh, it is a problem in the<st1:City><st1lace>London</st1lace></st1:City> homes… My brother smokes inside the house… and he has two school going kids … My brother in law smokes inside the house… and he has kids studying … Though their academic performance has not much been affected by a smoking parent, yet, I can imagine the impact of this news in some homes…<o></o>
Imagine the scene. As usual, the father comes to know that his son is studying in a crucial board class when he sees the report card… The grades reflected on the report card are hardly praiseworthy… So the father decides it is time to don that ‘concerned and grave air’ and tries to fix the son with a ‘Et tu Brute’ look. The son looks cool and ready to parry any shot. <o></o>
Father: This is your performance this term? Pathetic! How will you get admission in any reputed college if you go this way? Haven’t you get all the books you need? You go for tuitions… When I was like you, we never had all these comforts… yet, I…<o></o>
Son: Mumble…mumble…<o></o>
Father what’s that?<o></o>
Son: I said, Grandpa didn’t smoke.<o></o>
Father: What?<o></o>
Son: You don’t even know ? You are responsible for my bad performance… You smoke inside the house and that affects my academic performance...Don’t you read the newspaper? It has been proven! <o></o>
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Or,<o></o>
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Why is it that you haven’t done well in Hindi?’ "Oh papa… On the eve of my Hindi exam, you had some office problem and you were smoking and smoking….I knew I wouldn’t do well in my Hindi exam that day itself…"
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Hey! Parents… it is really time to throw the cigarette packets and the ashtrays out or you will end up wearing an albatross around your neck…Remember, kids , like elephants, have long memory… and when one is turning 80 who wants to be reminded by his fifty five year old son that he didn’t get his promotion because his father had smoked inside the house making a passive smoker out of him!<o></o>
<o></o>Another buck has been passed successfully! <o></o>