Studying is good, learning is better
It’s time to pay attention to intellectual development
Zuhair Mohamed Hussain
Grade 9, Our Own High School, Al Warqa’a, Dubai
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, It will live its whole life believing that it is stupid
Let’s take a look at some of the most successful minds of today - Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, Bill Gates, co-founder and CEO of Microsoft, and Steve Jobs, late co-founder and former CEO of Apple. What do they have in common?
All of them are celebrated geniuses who defined technology as it is today. None of them completed their education or obtained a degree of any kind.
In no way does an exam grade define the intellectual capacities of a student. A good score on an exam does not equate to intelligence, nor does a bad score equate to incapability or incompetence. The education system of today does not test an individual’s capacity to learn, It only tests an individual’s capacity to study. And in today’s world, studying and learning are vastly different concepts.
Geniuses aren’t only a product of education. They are also products of self-belief, confidence and curiosity. Schools of today focus too much on developing the capability of an individual to work, and in the process, overlook the development of the mind to think.
It’s about time we balanced the scales and paid equal attention to intellectual development as we do to academic development.
Examinations only prove an individual’s ability to study and not his/her intellectual capacity.
If I were to create an emoji... It would be of a dying battery for when I need to recharge my batteries. Literally and figuratively.