Discipline at Nixor

When we look at the important characteristics of leaders, one of the main virtues we see is discipline. Since Nixor aims at creating future leaders, discipline is a prime objective. Nixor College is working to create individuals who are not only intelligent but have sound ethical foundations as well. Many schools and colleges of Pakistan do not particularly understand the concept of discipline, and this lack of understanding leads to students being encouraged to break the rules rather than follow them. For example, schools tell students to keep short hair, wear particular shoes, do not bring cell phones, and many such rules which do not particularly serve to make a student more disciplined. And come on, we’re dealing with students here, not army men. Nixor believes in a different approach. As I have said before, students come first at Nixor, however lack of discipline (and not the traditional discipline) is not tolerated.

Think about a scenario here. Suppose you are caught cheating in your school. What will happen? You’ll be told to look in your own paper. Or maybe your paper could even get cancelled. But students will still cheat. I mean think about it, if a student knows nothing about a particular topic, wouldn’t he be getting very less marks anyways? So wouldn’t he think he should risk cheating, as he has nothing to lose? The most that could happen is his paper would be cancelled, which wouldn’t be such a big deal since he would be getting low or no marks anyways.

Nixor’s approach to the above scenario is different. But before telling you about this approach, let me explain two important features, the ‘gendis list’ and ‘strikes’. Lets start with the gendis list. Gendis stands for general disregard. The GenDis list is a list of students who even after repeated reminders have shown General Disregard for the well being of the Nixor community. Being in gendis doesn’t mean suspension or expulsion, but it would mean that the student would find the administration and the dean less receptive to his/her needs. He will stand at a disadvantage when being considered for Nixor programs. How does this make sure that a student gets disciplined? Well firstly his recommendation would be affected. His college application would suffer a serious blow, as he was not being considered for various programs at Nixor. And since significant improvement in attitude and contributions to the Nixor community will get your name off the GenDis List, he would try to work to improve. Minor offenses such as littering, not following school traffic rules, etc get you on the gendis list. The next major feature is the three-strike policy. Everyone makes mistakes. And everyone deserves another chance. But only fools repeat their mistakes. This policy at Nixor works in this way. Engaging in unethical acts will give you strikes. The first strike does not go on your permanent record; the second does, and guess what happens on the third, expulsion! The offences mentioned for getting strikes are
1. Bunking class
2. Physical fights
3. Vandalizing school property or stealing
4. Smoking while in Nixor uniform – regardless of whether this is on or off-campus
5. Insubordination with school administrative staff or faculty
6. Cheating on tests or exams
7. Display of affection on campus not consistent the social norms of Pakistan
8. Accessing pornographic or inappropriate websites on the internet using Nixor College resources
9. Acts of hazing, ragging, or systematic harassment towards other students regardless of class
There are no exceptions to this policy. So deduce what will happen in the above scenario and what would be its result. If a student is caught cheating, without any warning, his paper would be cancelled and he will receive a strike. How would it ensure that that student and others don’t cheat? Well he knows now that over his two years at Nixor he has only two more strikes left. He would make sure he doesn’t do anything offensive, including cheating, so that his record remains clean. Other students would follow this as well.

This is the approach to discipline that actually works. Things that provide students a bit of fun and entertainment are not forbidden unlike most other schools while if any act affects the school and the community it is unacceptable. We have examples. A student’s birthday was being celebrated by his/her friends and then there was a little cake fight. Seeing this, these students would be in trouble in most schools. To add to this, the dean was standing right near where this was happening, probably seeing this too. But he, or any other faculty member didn’t say anything. Do you know what the end result was? These students cleaned the mess they made themselves with mops. And nobody told them too! It was their own realization that with a little fun comes a little responsibility too. Why harm the very place that is allowing you to have fun? This is the attitude that defines leaders. And this is a perfect example of how Nixor’s disciplinary system works wonders!

Nixor College

Who am I? I am not the founder of Nixor College. Neither am I a faculty member. I am just a first year A’ level student in this college. I have just been in it for a month, yet I am proud to be a part of it. Lets get the facts out of the way first. Nixor College started in 2008. It is a certified A-Level School, registration number PK649. It is recognized by the British Council of Pakistan as one of the best A-Level colleges in the country because of its comprehensive approach to a high quality educational program. The Dean of this college is a truly inspiring individual, Nadeem Ghani. The key attraction of Nixor, is its faculty. It undoubtedly has one of the best faculties in Pakistan. Tuitions have become an increasing trend in Pakistan. Students tend to go to several tuitions to ensure that they get good O and A level grades and end up wasting a great deal of time and money to go to the best teachers in town. In recognition of the dangers of this trend, Nixor College was created to end this tuition craze. The best teachers in town, the ones who most go to for tuitions, could be found together teaching at a single college called Nixor College.

At first glance, this is the key reason why most of the students at Nixor have chosen this particular college to complete their A levels. However, I feel, this is only one small aspect that makes Nixor an amazing and a complete educational institute. My purpose here isn’t to advertise about Nixor. I have not been told to write all this. However this college has inspired me, and I feel everyone should know about this. I also feel that other schools and colleges should also implement the ideas incorporated in Nixor. Coming back to what I was talking about, if it isn’t the faculty, then what makes Nixor so great that a normal student was so inspired that that student made a blog about this college? It is the strong extra curricular system, and the sense of ethics bestowed upon the students with the aim of making them good citizens of the society and future leaders.

“The Nixor community believes in unquestionable ethics, unconditional respect for teachers, courage in our actions and pursuit of academic excellence.”

“Nixor’s mission is clear - to introduce more than 300 leaders every year into Pakistani society, ready, willing and able to make a huge positive impact on the lives they touch.”

The above are the official values and the mission of Nixor College. Here’s a small overview about the extra curriculars I have been talking about for so long. Along with the usual sports activities, Nixor has a system of Peer-to-peer tutoring, debates, personality workshops, and one of the best programs in Pakistan, Nixor Corporate. Peer to peer tutoring works in the form of work-study as T/As (Teachers assistants) appointed to help students in return for a deduction from their fees. Nixor Corporate, which I will post about in much more detail later, is a program set to give students a taste of the corporate world. There are several entities varied from engineering fields to finance and students are appointed through the normal employment procedure. They submit their CVs and cover letters for variety of posts ranging from CEO to staff member and go through interviews to be selected. Then throughout the year they give their time to that entity and are entirely responsible for it. This program is a pioneer program at college level and is actually the solution to the major flaw in our educational system. Think about it. How awesome would it be for a college graduate from Pakistan to actually say that along with grades, I also have experience of the corporate world. How amazing would it be for a future engineer to say that I restored an actual vehicle when I was in college, or how awesome would it be for a future CA to say that I audited accounts of several entities during my A level studies. How precious these students would be to universities and how successful are they bound to be in their careers. This accompanied by the ethics bestowed on them through the innumerous programs at Nixor aiming to serve the community would make a student a complete individual and an asset to the country, and the world!

Education In Pakistan

Pakistan, a country with innumerable problems. However, when asked about these problems, one of the most popular flaws is Pakistan’s educational system. The government schools and various other so called “schools” are an extreme of this problem most of us know about. So lets leave those for now. There are many good schools at primary level, with students getting a reasonably good education. When 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th grade students go abroad they manage to do extremely well compared to the local students. There are quite a few good universities too for those unable to go abroad due to a variety of problems. Then where exactly is the flaw everyone talks about? How come students graduating from Pakistan may end up getting the best of grades, yet fail in their careers? This flaw is basically in the transitional period between primary and university education.

What I am talking about is the high school and college period. The O and A levels, as well as matric and inter. Even this needs to be clarified as O and A level Pakistani students end up getting the highest number of A grades in the world. Almost all of us know about the recent world record broken by a Pakistani student. Then what is the flaw? Isn’t getting good grades the only way to assess an educational system? If you think so, then you are also among the majority of Pakistanis who feel that grades define students’ abilities. THIS is the flaw! Have you ever wondered why most students abroad are encouraged to keep a bare minimum of subjects? In the corporate world, you do not have to memorize from books and give exams. You have to be a man of action! You have to do stuff to get stuff.

Most schools and colleges only lay emphasis on academics. I am NOT neglecting the importance of academics here. Academics was, is and will always be the most important part of school and college life. However it is not the only part. Among the better educational institutes there are some who encourage students to take part in extra curriculars, however they do not give them a solid platform to do so. The most that they give is the opportunity to play a sport. There are very very few schools and colleges that take a step further and provide courses in activities such as photography, journalism, etc.

We needed an educational institute, which would serve as a better preparation for pre-university students for the real world. We needed an institute from which the graduated students would have experience in the careers they are pursuing as well. This institute has been opened in the heart of Pakistan, Karachi. It’s an institute where students come before anything else. Where children who are in it are mostly the only ones who know its worth and are proud of it. It’s an institution called Nixor College!