You must have often heard that there is nothing purer than a child’s intentions. They might be foolish but are as pure as the driven snow. I experienced this with one of my kids. She was in junior kindergarten when this occurred. Among her class, she was brighter than the other kids. She loved doing her homework and had a particular craze for Maths problems even at that tender age. 

She did her homework daily and was also a favourite of many of her subject teachers. She was getting gooding grades, her teachers had appreciative views about her and all went well. Then came the final examinations. She was quite confident in most of the papers. The last exam was of Maths. She was excited about this paper, not just because it was her favourite subject but also because it was the last paper. So after giving the paper, when she came back in the afternoon, I asked her as usual, how did her paper go. In a proud tone, she said “Good”. 

The results came a few days later. To my surprise, she got a zero in Maths. In the answer sheet, I could see the inscribed pencil marks over which the answers were rewritten. All of the erased answers were correct, and over each one of them, a wrong answer was written. I was really puzzled and thought for a minute before asking her if she rubbed all her answers. She hesitated for a second and then told proudly that a boy was copying all her answers. So she rubbed them all and wrote wrong answers in place of the original answers. I had no words to say. This was the moment I was reminded how a child could be foolish and clever at the same time. I kissed her and took her into my arms. 

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