Effort and work can become fun when you establish specific desirable goals. For every adversity there is equivalent or greater benefit for those who are motivated and don’t give up. We don’t govern our fate but we are masters of our attitudes. Our attitude determines our success. We translate our attitude in a physical reality through our thoughts. If our thoughts about ourselves are constructive and generous and merciful for others, we attract big, generous and merciful portions of success. It is mandatory for a person to take care of all the aspects of humanity and to sow the seeds of great thoughts among children accordingly. It must become the priority of parents and schools to let these seeds be sown in the formative years of schooling.

If we have to make this world better place to live in, such seeds are important to be sown in the prime time. First parents have to know their job how the great traits can be fostered in the child’s mental infrastructure then the role of schools is inevitable for behavioral metamorphosis. Parents and schools have to create such a system where the richness of soft skills with hard skills should become the beauty of the well-set ecosystem. Only one of the two can’t be effective; both have to be co-existent, co-employed and co-instituted. Shifting responsibilities can lead us to nowhere. Schools have to do it during their class hours and parents at home. Parents need to have a time table for their children, the way schools do have. Random parenting or random schooling can’t carve out the intellectual integrity and intellectual humility in the young generation.  They have to be very specific with their actions after the theories are laid out.

Intellectual integrity wedges fair-mindedness to seek and value the truth; everything what is said to be right or seems right must be accepted only after being systematically critical of such claims. In today’s day and age automation can be used to manipulate unreal to look real. We can’t take everything to our skull to rebut or substantiate without properly analyzing any statement. Intellectual integrity enhances the quality of agreement and appropriateness. It is about being true to your own rational thinking and to maintain same standards in one’s attitude towards others. Schools and parents have an incredibly important role to infuse it among the children. The grades to measure the potency of a young brain is to be changed. Parents must not press for grades and so should not the schools. If students have only grades to measure themselves, then cheating is often a justifiable strategy to beat the system. Instead of the ritual system of labeling students poor or above par on the basis of any number/digit/letter, the students must be also rewarded for their courage, hard work, determination and respect for others. They should see and understand that the process of learning comes first and it is not only about the concepts of science or social science but also about the social dynamics.

Young kids must get support to learn to believe in themselves. Intellectual dishonesty and disrespect no longer makes sense. Living with integrity becomes a way of life. For teachers, connecting with students is not as easy as it is thought. Every exchange with a student is a relation – building opportunity, and sharing the true selves can assist with creating a connection. Selecting personal anecdotes to share with students is a fragile dance between opening up and maintaining appropriate boundaries. It may offer an effective instructional tool and means through which teachers can build trust with students. 

Parents and schools need to understand that creating appropriate behavior among the young kids is not a cake walk. It needs perseverance and hard-to-break approach to train the budding minds. They have to create a desired mental infrastructure which is to be fed everyday and every moment with desired positive vibes. They have to track account of every moment so that pattern of action becomes concrete and translate into daily actions to become one’s habit. They need to be equipped with diverse moral vocabulary so that they can be magnetic for others to be idolized. They ought not to be judgmental to reach to conclusions fast - the level of tolerance and acceptance need to be high. They need to respect different viewpoints of life and train the kids accordingly. We manifest motivation by being positive, humble and appropriate.This is the way we bring in intellectual humility among the young kids which can make them thoughtful in choosing their convictions, seek out their flaws and never stop being curious to know different belief systems – why we believe what we believe. This mindset guides us to intellectual conduct by recognizing and owning our intellectual limitations. A sense of self discovery becomes prevalent which helps to develop self –awareness viz a viz self acceptance and recognition. We come to know who we are and who we want to be. One’s personality dimensions become clear.

Strengths and weaknessof a person gets spotted so that one can play on the strong zone only until the grey areas are made up. Intellectual humility is incredibly important virtue but radical in approach. Parents and teachers tend to value and praise the strengths and competence but sometimes overemphasising them can have bad repercussions in the form a feeling of intellectual weakness or a state of deficit in young brains.But intellectual humility sketches a fine line between being ambitious and over-ambitious. It enables us to understand that our growth is possible only when we can identify and own our limits and weakness and strive for their redressal by building a belief system that they can win if they strive for it. It removes the fear of failure when we already know the limits and weaknesses or imperfections.

Our homes and classroom spaces have to change. They need to be safe for kids to admit their imperfections or limitations. This should be assumed as an opportunity to foster intellectual courage through intellectual struggle to evolve to grow. Parents and teachers have to be encouraging all over the process. Their unbending approach can turn the tide in metamorphosing the behavioral or intellectual imperfections to perfections or weaknesses to strengths. 

(The Author is presently working as Principal Radiant Public School Anantnag and can be reached upon: Tariqmaqbool15@gmail.com)