Significance of Personality Development for a Student

Recently, a savant approached me seeking help to crack his personal problems. He was finding it difficult to concentrate during classes and scoring up to now pass marks in the exams had become a herculean t use up. A casual enquiry revealed that he was almost starving and severely malnutriti aned beca procedure of his hate for the hostel mess food. He would skip breakfast, eat sparingly at night and satisfy his appetite instead at the night mobile canteen with coffee and noodles. This case is non very different from the stories of hundreds of savants I lease had the opportunity to counsel in the past six twelvemonths.I view forever and a day noticed that most of the school-age childs academic problems can be t prevaild to imbalances in the personal lookstyle which is often taken for granted. Many p arents and teachers fail to crop this simple connection and to a fault to impress upon students the desire for a fit lifestyle. Indian auberge and the preparation system mu st veer aside from the obsessive focus on marks & ranks, if we want to unleash the full phase of the moon potential of our y stunnedh and in altogetherow them to grow in a more natural way, pursuing their inborn talents and beguiles.A host of common behavi verbal problems noticed in kids and adolescents can be prevented or cured if a foundation is laid at an early age towards holistic personality development. tenfold discussion In this article, I will make use of the concept of Multiple Intelligence developed by Dr. Howard Gardneri, Hobbs professor of scholarship and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Gardner talks of different aspects of intelligence activity possessed by every feel for being and why it is chief(prenominal) to develop each one of them to achieve a balanced personality.I will also attempt to illustrate how Indian tradition has always emphasized on such all round ontogeny of the human being being through the intimacy system s wish yoga, ayurveda through schools of philosophy & spiritism like the darsanas or vedangas and even through classical art forms like medicinal drug or dance. Physical Intelligence Lack of regular sensual activity and regime is perhaps the biggest epidemic afflicting the students in India today. The rat race for marks and ranks leaves little time or motivation for the average student to go out and spend some time at the lycee or in the maneuverground.The university campus where I reside has a massive playground, a well-equipped gym, a basketball court, a tennis court and to top it all, one of the biggest swimming pools in South India. And yet, hardly 500 students come out to play or exercise every day, out of the 5,000 strong student community on this campus. No wonder then that a majority of the students who approach me with problems of poor concentration, motivation in studies are those who belong to the cat potato category.Had Swami Vivekananda been with us today, he wou ld have declared again what he told that group of emasculated teenagesters who approached him with a request to learn the Bhagavad Gita under his advocate You will be nearer to heaven through football than by reading the Gita. But there is a significant positive prune happening in schools and colleges across India. Just as the number of heavy and overweight kids is on the rise, so is there a growing interest in systems of yoga.What better proof of this than the fact that the mainstream political class in Tamilnadu which takes pride usually in hating everything that is rooted in Hindu tradition, has been subservient in making yoga compulsory across all schools in the democracy Or consider for example the experience of the Vivekananda Kendra in popularizing Surya Namaskara amongst schools all over India, developicularly in Madhya Pradesh. Students who have attended the Yoga Vargas or the Samskara Vargas conducted by the Kendra bear witness for the marked transformation in pe rsonality that the regular practice Surya Namaskara has set up in them.There is palpable strengthening of will power and authorisation in these students. Parents and Schools should therefore reconsider the unhealthy trade off which they ask students to make between the time given to physical activities and studies. Linguistic Intelligence Even a cursory look at the placement scenario in professional colleges makes it amply clear that all corporations today emphasize the need for groovy communication skills and they prefer recruits with better communication skills in English. chat skill has a great impact on our interpersonal bloods.A person who can communicate effectively and clearly is less potential to create communication gaps which lead to serious mis apprehensions. Good communication skills and attainment in many languages improves ones reach amongst peers and enhances ones accessible acceptance and prestige. It is an interesting fact that great spiritual leaders like Sw ami Vivekananda were masters of the art of communication. Indias rich literary and oral heritage is yet another illustration of this point our forefathers understood the entailment of developing linguistic intelligence.Musical Intelligence The study and practice of music was considered as a sacred form of worship in Indian tradition Naadopasana. Perhaps, music is the most beautiful facet of human elegance. Sri Ramakrishna was particularly fond of Swami Vivekanandas melodious voice and his soulful singing. Sri Ramakrishna would attain Samadhi on bewareing to devotional music. I often come across students who are addicted to music. Many of them turn out to be class toppers They listen to their favourite music even the night before their semester examsWe do not need an expert in music therapy to tell us this perspicuous fact that music not plainly relaxes the mind but also brings about far reaching physiological and neurological changes in the body-mind composite over a period of time. Interpersonal Intelligence How do you amount of money a persons level of stirred up maturity and growth? Primarily by the way he conducts himself-importance in civilized society and the treatment he accords to others. Corporations today emphasize again on relationship skills which are considered critically primary(prenominal) for an individual to rise in the hierarchy of the organization.A CEO with poor relationship skills is either a non-existent oxymoron or a disaster for the organization. All religious values are centred on building relationship skills on the basis of a spiritual understanding of what connects one human being to another. The essence of religion is to be good and do good to others, said Swami Vivekananda. The Mahabharata declares Ahimsa to be the greatest dharma because the rishis perceived that all life is interconnected. You cannot harm others without harming yourself.If this profound truth is impressed upon our students from a young age, there will not be much need for all the fuss we hear about value education today. Many social or national evils like corruption or caste diversity are results of a lifestyle that seeks personal aggrandisement at the make up of and complete indifference to the plight of our fellow human beings. If only our education gives greater weightage to building relationship skills amongst students, the India of our dreams would not have to wait for the year 2020. Intrapersonal IntelligenceConventional psychology would look d stimulate upon an introvert as a person with poor relationship skills. Not today. Howard Gardner and new schools of theme have begun to understand the reason why Indians give such gaze to Munis and Yogis who withdraw from the world. An introvert who spends much time trying to understand his deeper self will also become capable of understanding others from a compassionate viewpoint. Intrapersonal Intelligence is the new marker developed to give due weightage to this important asp ect of our personality development and grooming.A person who runs away from his own self all the while trying to substitute his inner nihility with external pursuits or superficial relationships is heading for a crisis. The extroverts sense of identity and esteem is passing dependent on others views of his personality. An introvert is a person who is striving to arrive at a recite where he can feel good or be substance without having to seek an external confirmation of his well-being. Logical Mathematical Intelligence (IQ) schooling of Logical Mathematical Intelligence is often given disproportional weightage in the development of a students personality.While IQ does play a significant role in the life of every human being, what was perhaps overlooked till recently was that IQ alone does not make a person complete nor is it the only parameter for measuring stick a persons potential for success or joy in life. A person with a poor IQ whitethorn be more than compensated by a hi gh emotional intelligence. This is the reason why we see many school dropouts becoming highly successful entrepreneurs in India where as many IIM graduates disappear into oblivion after(prenominal) getting an MBA degreeConclusion We know through Swami Vivekanandas writings that he considered two things to be of great importance in personality development a) Preference to the Heart over the Head b) The role of the Guru in shaping a students personality and the importance of animated in the proximity of the Guru or Gurugrihavasa. Swamijis views based on Vedantic knowledge have stood the test of time. All that is destructive in human civilization is a result of a sharp brain with an undeveloped heart. piece civilization suffers from an excess of materialistic IQ devoid of EQ and SQ. And the only place where a student can be systematically proficient to nurture his EQ & SQ is at the gurukula under the supervision of a clean master. As a teacher, perhaps it would be self-righteous on my part to claim that a teacher plays the most vital role in a students personal growth. But, as a student of the school of life, I cannot but reiterate this eternal law only a spark can ignite another spark, only life can inspire another life.Modern schools of thought like the Multiple Intelligence model discussed here further validate the wisdom that Vedantic knowledge and tradition have bequeathed to us through Atmavidya and the Guru parampara. (The author is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Cultural Education Programme at Amrita University in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. He is a Trustee of the International Forum for Indias Heritage and Resource individual for the Human Excellence Project of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Coimbatore Kendra. He is also a students exponent for the Samvedna Helpline, a project of the corporate social responsibility wing of Tata Teleservices. )