Scouting around the library for a table with a power socket near it, I checked a few of my more familiar spots. It must have been my lucky day as I spotted one without much difficulty though many others had chosen the floor. A teenage girl was sitting at the table for four, so I politely gestured if I could join her. She nodded, so I sat down, unpacked my laptop and fired it up.

As I was working on my laptop, my eyes strayed to check out what the girl, who sat adjacent, was working on. Surprise… surprise… not. It was that alien language some prefer to call “maff”. As I observed at the corner of my eye, her writing pad, huge scientific calculator, wind breaker, pencil box and the writing materials within, many thoughts bombarded my mind. Smart! was the first thought that popped in my head as she was writing down stuff which I know I never understood at her age. But, merely seconds behind smart came, “What is smart?”

The education system avoids teaching the essentials needed for life-after-school and to make it worst it misguides us to believe good academic grades equates to smart. An education system that stresses more on integrity, humility and empathy would do more good. It’s shouldn’t be just about award winning and money making.