There is a thin line between being over-ambitious to being greedy.
When children grow up, right through their journey in the school they are exposed to different types of behaviours, both at school amongst their peer group, with their teacher. The parents, family, and the neighbourhood are great influencer. All these diverse inputs are used in the moulding of the character of child growing through the middle school to graduating from school. They meet and interact with other children with different backgrounds, different socioeconomic profile, and many other diversities.
The school environment should set a level playing ground in the way the education systems are implemented, and learning happens. The school leadership, and the teachers are idealised by the children. They should set good examples and inspire children. This is very much part of the education in a school.
Yes, it is important that the teaching-learning experience has to be effective, one of the key reasons why schools exist and children go to school. It is more important that they eventually become responsible human beings and citizens.We would like every child to become successful in life. The parents will always do the best they can and also do sacrifice a lot to enable their children to become well educated, and eventually a successful person.
“Success” is a words that has many connotations, and different for different individuals and families. It all starts with creating aspirations in the minds of the children, and eventually help them and encourage them to define their own attributes of “Success”, and how should they define goals and interim milestones, for themselves. Parents play the roles of helping and gently nudging their children to plan their life’s journey.
Parents also would have had aspirations, goals, some of them tangible, and some intangible too. It could be about career growth, wealth, social identity etc. In case they have fallen short of their own expectations (It happens many times due to factors that are not entirely in their control), they want to see their children accomplish and surpass all that they could not accomplish themselves. We seer it very often in this materialistic and a highly competitive world.
Every individual should and will build and evolve their aspirations, influenced by the in puts they are assimilating all the time: at School, at Home, in the extended family, neighbourhood, and friends. Today media is also a great influencer, some times healthy, sometimes negative.
Every child will eventually get inspired by one or few individuals and their characteristics, behaviour, lifestyle, status in society etc.
While it is best that children are not pampered, at the same time not deprived. The feeling of deprivation, or the feeling of taking everything for granted are two extremes. At every point in time, we are all confronted with choices, where we have to make decisions, many times tough decisions that could influence our future. Today’s children will be in a similar situation when they are adults. School Education and Family, particularly parents will play a significant role in helping children cut the clutter and come to terms with reality and what is practical.
Healthy aspirations are a must have, setting goals and moving goal posts further evidences a highly motivated individual. This leads to ambition. Being ambitious and moderately aggressive achieving one’s ambition is good – Road to “success”!
What if they cross the line between ambition to becoming over-ambitious. This may set in stress, disappointments, and family discontentment. It is further disturbing when you see over-ambition becoming “Greed”. That is the risk zone one would want to avoid. While life always will throw a challenge at you when you least expect it, life also throws big opportunities at you even if it is attributed to “pure luck”.
School going children of today, many years later will face successes and failures. It is really never one thing. The crucial age when characters get firmly moulded, is the opportunity and responsibility that the parents and the school have in build these attributes in children. Strength of character, learning to take success and failure with equanimity. Be a balanced individual – not too aggressive, not to meek. Set Goals and ambitions, but never let it turn into Greed.
Sincerity, Hard work, focus, being a responsible individual, learning to give, and eventually leave legacy of these characteristics which can inspire the next generation.
Education should help them find the right balance.
