| |9 October 2016HIGHERReviewCharacter over intelligenceImagine a world full of only intelligent people who are street smart and are ruling corporate, politics and other socio circle around our lives. They all have intelligence, but are surrounded by self-centered values. For example, it takes intelligence to plan a crime or create weapons for mass destruction but the character makes all the difference in how that intelligence is used and for what. History says, Germany-based leader, Hitler, tried to crusade the world, which led to Second World War. He had a strong army with extremely intelligent commanders, who helped Hitler to conquer many territories. Whereas US President, Barrack Obama (Can take example of St Mother Teresa), has a strong personality with good character and is intelligent leader. He might not have been successful in spreading peace around the world but he didn't initiate any war either. The difference between Obama and Hitler is about character and how they influenced the world. Pathway to universityWorld's top most universities offer admissions not only on the basis of aggregated marks scored by an individual; they prefer a student with well-rounded qualities. Any good school, which believes in holistic education forms a strong foundation for students to get an admission in Ivy League colleges. More than streamlining student's university profile, they also make them future ready. For example, the Singapore-based Global Indian International School has developed a framework for teaching and imparting education to all the students on the basis of nine key areas and call them as Nine Gems. These Nine Gems includes Leadership, problem solving skills, drama, sports, and academics, among others. The framework has been a successful model in imparting holistic education in the school. In the past 10 years of offering International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), the school has got six IB world toppers. In 2016, the two IB world toppers, Rasika Kale and Amitesh Sivaraman exemplified what holistic education is all about. Rasika is a trained dancer and have given various performances at school level and have worked closely with teachers to participate in community integration. Even Amitesh is a trained violin player and has been performing on stage from an early age. These two toppers break the mould of an ideal topper (assumed). Both the students were involved in various activities and still managed to excel in the exam. Due to their strong student profile, both got admissions in world's leading colleges in UK and Singapore even before their results were out.Lead holisticallyIn order to have success for all the students, we must strive to preserve and amplify their natural wonder and curiosity to help them reach their full potential. It is important that they all get ample of opportunity to flourish in a diverse and vibrant community of teachers, who are also leaders. We believe that emotional growth for each student is equally important as academic achievement. This will help in making them compassionate and engaged world citizens. World's top most universities offer admissions not only on the basis of aggregated marks scored by an individual; they prefer a student with well-rounded qualities
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