The other day my friend was talking to me about her teenage daughter’s examination fear. She told me that the girl was exceptionally brilliant in class and knows the answers for all possible questions, yet she fumbles in her exams. Most of us believe this characteristic might be because of exam-fear and the pressure of doing well, however I believe it’s self-esteem that needs to be fine-tuned for one to do well.

Also I suggested a recent self-assessment testing site www.24x7guru.com in Maths and Science for children belonging to CBSE and ICSE boards.

Healthy self-esteem is an important factor in achieving your potential. Successful people are able to take measured risks and avoid wallowing in self-pity. They are ready to see the best in all people and are will to trust others with responsibility.

This short quiz will help you assess you self-esteem. Rate each of the questions on this four-point scale:

3 = always
2 = more than half the time
1 = Occasionally
0 = Never

1. I accept responsibilities when things go wrong.
2. I feel comfortable when I am set apart from the group
3. I view each new situation as an opportunity or a challenge.
4. I am comfortable accepting a compliment.
5. I set goals and visualize accomplishing them.
6. I am confident in myself and my abilities.
7. I am willing to take necessary risks.
8. I think positively in the face of challenges.
9. I can say “no”.
10. I understand my attitude towards people plays a role in my success.
11. I see the positive qualities in other people.
12. I listen to others.
13. People describe me as a positive person.
14. I understand my attitude towards circumstances controls how I respond to challenges.
15. I share credit with others.

Add up the total points and check scoring after the jump:

38 " 45 High self-esteem. You are confident about yourself and your abilities. You have a positive attitude.

30 " 37 Strong self-esteem. You are generally confident about yourself and your abilities. You tend to remain positive and optimistic in your attitude.

23 " 29 Moderate self-esteem. You have periods of self-doubt, but tend to be more positive than negative.

15 " 22 Low self-esteem. You have periods of self-doubt and tend to be more negative than positive.

 0 " 14 Negative self-esteem. You have little or no confidence in your abilities. You tend to demonstrate negative attitudes.

An independent body follows an independent mind. Also talking further about the mind, one needs to make sure its kept busy for most time, as an ideal mind is a devil’s workshop. My children, the other day quizzed me about nuclear energy and who our politicians made such a big issue on India wanting to meet its fuel/energy requirements. Now I am juts putting all their questions into a single sentence. Some wanted to know the energy requirements; others wanted to know about nuclear weapons and so on.

Being a teacher one has to an independent mind and bring in newer ideas that will keep students thinking. A teacher’s job (I can speak for science teachers) should be to teach students fundamentals through concept learning thereby laying a strong foundation for the student. This can be realistically done when children are able to relate to what they learn.

For example when I was teaching my students on rocket propellants I had to talk to them about the world of space voyages and NASA. Expectedly I had many enthusiastic students and it was one of my most interesting classes, with a record student participation in the discussion. However I should say we hardly covered much syllabus that day and I happened to be quizzed by our proactive Principal on the day’s lessons. He was not impressed when I told him about the long conversations we had and the student participation. Being the principal behind many successful students and national ranks, he had his own agenda for success and wasn’t in a mood to give in to newer ideas. I had also forecasted on how such discussions would inspire children and take them deeper into Science and there were several long-term benefits associated with it. Quite obviously his defense was that a huge chunk of children already loved Science, referring to the many engineering courses and colleges we had in the country.

Now I didn’t feel the need to convince him more and therefore in class keep my conversations limited to the syllabus and once in a while answer a few inquisitive non-subjective queries from students. Students do come up with topics with the potential of deviating from the syllabus but I promptly tell them to keep those discussions for the break or ones to discuss at home. I feel sad for them as now I don’t discuss but only talk to them about good Science programmes on television and other internet sites which they would find useful.

For example, the other day I came across this article from Times of India that spoke about a ‘Destination NASA Challenge 2008’. It’s conducted by an online self-assessment website called www.24x7guru.com where a series of tests are conducted across the country. The challenge is for students from classes 3 to 10 (based on their existing CBSE or ICSE boards) and 10 lucky students get to visit NASA along with a teacher and parent. This challenge has sure caught up with me and my students. There days we quietly discuss in breaks and post-classes on the preparations for the challenge.

I should say such initiatives are motivation for all - parents, teachers and students most importantly to perform. Honestly speaking nothing else will give our Principal, Management or me more joy that having our students to visit NASA.