The Art Examination

A teacher of Art was to take an examination of the students of his class. They had just completed an extensive study on ‘Still life.’ For the examination the teacher said, “You can work on this at home or at school. I am dividing all of you into two groups. Students in Group-A shall paint only one pot each. Students of Group-B can paint and submit as many pots as they like. You must submit your work to me after a week. I shall mark you out of 100.”

So, the entire week, all the students worked hard to excel. The students of Group-A, had to work only on one pot each, so all of them got enough time to put in a lot of detail into their work. Quite a few master pieces were created!

The students of Group-B, worked on one pot after the other. By the end of the week, some presented five pots, some six, some even more. The teacher collected the submissions and sat down to mark them.

When he read out the marks awarded to them all on the following day, which group do you think would have done better? Which group out did the other?

Rational thinking would say that since the students of Group-A got to concentrate on just one pot each and that they were able to direct all their time and energy into a single pot, this group should in general have done better than Group-B.

But, the verdict was tilted in favour of Group-B. Let us see why. With each successive pot that the student painted, he or she was able to practice more. New ideas cropped up and the hand became more at ease with the job. Each successive pot painted, was better than the earlier one. The last pot painted by most of these students was a class apart from either of those submitted by their friends in Group-A!

Sometimes; or rather most of the times, ‘Practise makes a man perfect’. For an artist, each painting contributes to his growth as a more and more mature creator. For a student, each time he goes over the text to be learnt, he knows it just a little better. For an employee, each time he works at the same kind of assignment, he sharpens his skills a wee bit more. Sit up and get to work. Don’t idle away your time! Even if you fail, just get up again and try harder. Remember, Success is just a little failure that decided to go on.

As for perfection, remember that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well! So whatever you do, give it your best shot!