I just read this article in Dawn - Education-employment link. It is a very interesting article, but not an alarming one - at least to me, it isn't.
Well, first of all, look around you and tell me a field in which we are excelling. Positive ones, only, please. There is no excellence in crime and other negative enterprise. You could call it inverse-excellence.
Every professional comes from amongst us - the society. Failure in every field is reflective of the incompetence, ignorance, selfishness and most importantly dishonesty. Personally, I can live with an honest but incompetent person - if I could find one, that is. So, why should I blame the bureaucrats for the recent power outage? They are but a reflection of us all.
But let's talk about education - the "industry" that I am in. Universities are not producing quality graduates, right? That is a no-brainer. There are few quality graduates out there, in every field. And these guys are there no thanks to the universities that they graduated from. They were either hugely gifted or guided by someone with a clue, who mostly happens to be a family friend and not a faculty member.
There are well-meaning faculty members in our universities, but they are frustrated with the declining quality of the student intake. So, the colleges are to blame, then? Wait a minute! Who even goes to college nowadays? Oh, the academies, then! Hmmm. Many students who make it into some of the top universities in Pakistan don't make it because they are among the best. They go to academies which provide pools of questions whose answers are to be crammed to succeed at the entry tests. No wonder, clueless people will make it into some of our top universities. Then, what output do you expect from the university?
Trace the thread backwards, further. The schools. Have you looked at their state? Private, public, both. Pathetic overall, if you ask me. I particularly hate the ones with the high fees who claim to be giving quality education, but I know exactly what they are giving.
Back in the days when we had gems in our society, it was because we had quality teachers in schools. Individuals who were great human beings, first. Even if they didn't teach a kid how to find the highest common factor, they taught him what mattered. Through the "go buy a liter of milk and drop it at my home" to the punishment, it was all well-intended. I am not saying that you start doing this now and everything will be better again. No, it doesn't work that way. Copy-pasting is the worst thing you can do. It was the teacher's mind that was deciding what needs to be done now and what results it will produce years later. You can't copy-paste that. Wisdom is a slow and painful process.
Let's pause and think who ends up in the teaching process in our schools and, for the most part, in our universities. That's right, those who couldn't get a "real job". Guys like me, they are these rejects and outcasts. Why do you expect us to do a miracle, then? At schools, the situation is even worse. The place where we need better people, we hire the ones with no experience, no clue and even low grades.
I interviewed people for a private school over a number of years. We found people with M. Phils in English who couldn't translate a simple sentence into English. And these people were hired to be teachers and even principals at really high salaries by Government schools.
A lot of emphasis is being paid on higher education in Pakistan, but I think that by the time a student enters university, it is too late. Emphasis on higher education is necessary, but a greater level of emphasis must be paid on the primary and secondary education. That way, even if someone doesn't continue onto higher education, you would have better citizens.
Also, the argument of, we need engineers/scientists and not social science/humanities graduates is bogus. The root of all our problems are in our society, which can't be fixed by science or engineering. You need good social science and humanities people to fix that. And what people do we admit to those programs? The ones whose grades are too low for any other program. From amongst these, you will have future teachers and the cycle will continue.
So, there, I've told you what needs to be done to fix our society, our education-employment link etc. What I can't tell you though, is how to do it. I'm not a social scientist, I'm a computer engineer.
Well, first of all, look around you and tell me a field in which we are excelling. Positive ones, only, please. There is no excellence in crime and other negative enterprise. You could call it inverse-excellence.
Every professional comes from amongst us - the society. Failure in every field is reflective of the incompetence, ignorance, selfishness and most importantly dishonesty. Personally, I can live with an honest but incompetent person - if I could find one, that is. So, why should I blame the bureaucrats for the recent power outage? They are but a reflection of us all.
But let's talk about education - the "industry" that I am in. Universities are not producing quality graduates, right? That is a no-brainer. There are few quality graduates out there, in every field. And these guys are there no thanks to the universities that they graduated from. They were either hugely gifted or guided by someone with a clue, who mostly happens to be a family friend and not a faculty member.
There are well-meaning faculty members in our universities, but they are frustrated with the declining quality of the student intake. So, the colleges are to blame, then? Wait a minute! Who even goes to college nowadays? Oh, the academies, then! Hmmm. Many students who make it into some of the top universities in Pakistan don't make it because they are among the best. They go to academies which provide pools of questions whose answers are to be crammed to succeed at the entry tests. No wonder, clueless people will make it into some of our top universities. Then, what output do you expect from the university?
Trace the thread backwards, further. The schools. Have you looked at their state? Private, public, both. Pathetic overall, if you ask me. I particularly hate the ones with the high fees who claim to be giving quality education, but I know exactly what they are giving.
Back in the days when we had gems in our society, it was because we had quality teachers in schools. Individuals who were great human beings, first. Even if they didn't teach a kid how to find the highest common factor, they taught him what mattered. Through the "go buy a liter of milk and drop it at my home" to the punishment, it was all well-intended. I am not saying that you start doing this now and everything will be better again. No, it doesn't work that way. Copy-pasting is the worst thing you can do. It was the teacher's mind that was deciding what needs to be done now and what results it will produce years later. You can't copy-paste that. Wisdom is a slow and painful process.
Let's pause and think who ends up in the teaching process in our schools and, for the most part, in our universities. That's right, those who couldn't get a "real job". Guys like me, they are these rejects and outcasts. Why do you expect us to do a miracle, then? At schools, the situation is even worse. The place where we need better people, we hire the ones with no experience, no clue and even low grades.
I interviewed people for a private school over a number of years. We found people with M. Phils in English who couldn't translate a simple sentence into English. And these people were hired to be teachers and even principals at really high salaries by Government schools.
A lot of emphasis is being paid on higher education in Pakistan, but I think that by the time a student enters university, it is too late. Emphasis on higher education is necessary, but a greater level of emphasis must be paid on the primary and secondary education. That way, even if someone doesn't continue onto higher education, you would have better citizens.
Also, the argument of, we need engineers/scientists and not social science/humanities graduates is bogus. The root of all our problems are in our society, which can't be fixed by science or engineering. You need good social science and humanities people to fix that. And what people do we admit to those programs? The ones whose grades are too low for any other program. From amongst these, you will have future teachers and the cycle will continue.
So, there, I've told you what needs to be done to fix our society, our education-employment link etc. What I can't tell you though, is how to do it. I'm not a social scientist, I'm a computer engineer.
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