I agree fully with the above statement. I am a student and study Just to pass examinations. It seems the same with my schoolmates. We are all only concerned with examinations. We do not study other things that do not require us to sit for examinations.
The reason that we do not study other things is that we have no time for them. School subjects take up all our time in school and much of our time out of school. Every day we have to learn so many things whether we like it or not. Lessons continue one after the other with hardly a break. Our brains switch from history to geography to mathematics to science unceasingly. We manage most of the time, but sometimes it gets so tiring. For me, any initial interest I have in any subject is quickly killed off by the sheer amount of information I have to absorb. No one is allowed to learn at his or her own pace. Everyone has force-fed a diet of information regardless of whether he or she can cope with it or not.
Then there is always the next examination around the corner. Since very young we have been taught this: passing an examination is good, failing is very bad. We are expected to pass. Our parents, teachers and all grown-ups applaud us when we pass. If we fail, we are made to feel worthless. I myself had been caned by my father because I got red marks on my report card.
No one wants to be considered worthless or be punished for failure, but that is what the world is. So, we become obsessed with examinations. We study because we do not want to fail. I have heard some teachers say that we should study to acquire knowledge. Knowledge is considered precious. It is all very well and idealistic to say such things but I do not see anyone practicing it. The only knowledge I acquired in my years in school is that if I fail I am finished. I have to pass.
That is how I feel. For some of my classmates who cannot cope with the workload, they simply give up studying. They are already marked as failures by the teachers so they see no point in studying anymore. I do not fall into that category. I still study and do my homework as diligently as I can, but I do these things with only one thing in mind and that is: I have. to pass my examinations.
So, the students study very hard indeed. Passing means success in the world. Failure is unspeakable. The fact remains that they study not for the sake of knowledge but only so that they can pass the next examination. I am no different from them.