A child is not an assemblyline product. He is unique and special in his own way.

I feel very sad when I see the way kids are being brought up by parents. How many understand that every child has some unique capabilities and is beautiful in his/her own way and that uniqueness needs to be nurtured for that child to be successful and happy. When I go to schools I see boards with names of children who have got ranks in board exams or entrances displayed with pride. While those intelligent children have indeed done hard work and brought laurels to their school and pride to their parents( who can now walk with their head held high in society) what about those who have excelled in art or music or martial art or sports? Is topping in exams the only thing that brings pride to parents and schools? Are those other kids who may not be very good at Maths or science but gifted with abilities that can make them great in other fields not important enough to be praised? Why do their names not appear in most school adverts? I know schools that make the children study and study and just study with no play. They do not even have the space for children to run around and grow into healthy individuals. But who cares? These children will come out of such schools with ranks and then do great jobs, have big salaries and then become fat and stressed and sick.
School and college education is like a factory churning out engineers and doctors and MBAs just like products on the assembly line with same specifications.
Children forget what they are passionate about, their interests, their talent in other areas in the process of becoming successful as the society defines it.
This beautiful poem by Kahlil Gibran is perhaps the finest words written on this subject.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.