On the first day of school, our resident first grader awoke and declared, “I had a nightmare that I missed the school bus!”
My poor darling. Perhaps now is not the best time to tell you that there’s something called an exam nightmare that never ends, no matter how old you are. Just ask your 85-year-old great grandmother.
Points to ponder:
1) Do people in the Western world suffer from the same nightmare, or are they only bothered about walking naked down the street?
2) Does the condition affect Indian men also or is it mostly confined to women?
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Back-to-School
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21 comments:
Exam nightmares know no gender....I have never had that one, my husband has it *all* the time...
M
I still have those .. am in an exam hall and I know nothing. *shudder*
M, I guess that answers my question. (Wow, your husband discusses his dreams with you?)
Shobha, hail the Indian education system for stressing out students for life.
but she is only in first grade. what did you people do to her?:)
Bridget Jones had it in bridget jone's diary.
terri's mom:
"Wow, your husband discusses his dreams with you?"
looks like i've unwittingly stumbled upon another dream now! ;-)
- s.b.
Still have those...and the lecturers are laughing :-(
Vijay, the lecturers probably have the same dreams also.
s.b., I thought men usually dreamt about ahem, ahem ... more prurient matters. I didn't think exams would fall under the same radar.
Sachita, that's where India gets it from then. It's a British hangover.
Is the Western education system better? Should I move my *currently non-existent*kids abroad ?:D
But 1st graders, seriously!
[munna_bhai]
I used to have exam fears all the time. My nightmares would start one or two weeks after the exams have been completed. In some instances I would be giving an answer pawper empty without writing anything and get up frightned in the night only to realise it is just a dream
Not sure whether westerners get the exam dream or if it is a product of the high pressure Indian education system. Though Harry Potter's Hermione definitely would get such a dream and she is western (even though fictional)!
I don't think it's gender specific though..and it has variations too -can't remember anything, couldn't finish the paper on time, studied for the wrong paper....the list could go on...
Veena
Terri's mom,
When husband wakes you out of sound sleep, clutching you in a fierce grip, exclaiming "Exam - need to go soon!" - you soon realise what the dream is about...:-)
M
m:
i refer you to terri's mom's previous comment!
- s.b.
Funny, my nightmare is the exact opposite: that I *caught* the damn school bus.
I have a very specific exam nightmare - I'm sitting for my Hindi Boards and I suddenly discover not only have I not read a single page of the required textbooks over the past year, I now can't read Devanagiri either. AIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!
I've never yet dreamt anything unpleasant about being nekkid. How can anything with Simon Baker be unpleasant? (blush!)
I have an entire category for my weird (mostly exam) dreams in my blog, Terri. I feel for the little one.
Lakshmi, I noticed :)
Amrita, I had to Google Simon Baker to find out who he is. Hindi Boards? Wow! It still takes me a while to read signboards in Hindi.
Meira, I don't know about the rest of the Western world, but my kid thinks his school in the U.S. was a lot more fun.
munna_bhai, your nightmares would start soon after your exams? I remember not sleeping the day before the exam, giving no chance to nightmares.
Veena, I think the pressure to perform academically at a young age is less in the U.S. (Pressure to perform in other, ahem, physical categories is more.)
terri:
"Pressure to perform in other, ahem, physical categories is more."
there is more pressure to perform in other non-quantitative, non-objective, non-physical 100% subjective p2p (or should i say g2g?) categories is also more ... though india is obviously catching up, especially in one all-important physical category summarized in three letters (pda). more details can be had in neo's latest post.
- s.b.
Terri - you should have asked me. feast your eyes on this!
AIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! (And I'm not even into blondes.)
s.b., what in the world do all the acronyms stand for? Hangover from my old job - NEVER use acronyms on first reference!
Amrita, but for the color of his hair, shape of his eyes, width of his nose, what's-his-name would be attractive.
Apart from the regular exam-nightmares of not knowing what to write ; failing etc, I always had a weird nightmare that I forgot to write my ROLL NUMBER on my paper :).
So while wishing my bro and sis all the best for their exams, i would always say "don't forget to write your roll number" and have them give me weirdest looks.
I hope the kids and your mom are adjusting well, Terri.
Good luck.
Jyothy.
Jyothy, new here? Thank you. The weather's great and the community's even better.
I STILL have those dreams. One of them is where I apply the wrong formula in a math test. It's a calculus problem and I use my knowledge of algebra- it was a ridiculous nightmare. *sweats profusely*
I guess the pressure only increases with time- when what I do (stay at home) is constantly compared with what other people are doing (say, athaiyoda machinaroda manniyoda orpadiyoda athai paatikku onnu vitta chitthi ponnoda pethi is a s/w engg in "bay area"). :P
But then, it's my fault for letting it get to me.
-Viji
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