July 1999

School and after

Peer pressure, societal dictates, images of good life, plenty and status exert an inexorable pressure. Why this hurry? One can work, start with something simple and fulfilling thereby reducing parents' burden. Our society believes that if you are unqualified you cannot be employed. This needs to be challenged with common sense. It is important that one acts intelligently.

Try and put down on a piece of paper why you want to go to college after school. Then discuss with friends and adults to find at least three ways of accomplishing what you wish to do. Once this is done you will arrive at multiple possibilities and also realise that you are not part of a mindless herd.

Education and certification do not belong to colleges alone. Distance education programme helps one get qualified and certified while being employed. It is worth exploring. It means understanding that certification in almost any field, except Orthodox Medicine and Architecture is possible through Distance Education programmes. AMIE has produced some very good engineers. It is a rigorous course that needs work experience as part of the certification process.

The Association of Chartered Accountants has created the foundation course for students after they complete school. One could say that to harvest the rich diversity of this land, we need more such enterprising plans. Monolithic educational structures, like large organisations have had their day. We are entering the age of the small and the diverse. The Government has declared that there should be discrimination between correspondence students and college students when being considered for higher education or jobs.

The future is here all too early, catching us off guard. The Internet is here, transforming the world. In a few years it will not be necessary to go to school or college for knowledge, non physical skills and certification. The cyber college is already upon us. Students participate in discussions on the Net, attend classes, do assignments and receive comments. They may soon take examinations on the Net as is being done with the assistance of computers for examinations like GRE and TOEFL. Of course, the company of fellow human beings will be ruled out. This will be a true challenge.

Students hardly know what they wish to pursue. The advice they get at this stage is on these lines: Do as we did, choose a profession and work hard. Stick to one profession, specialise. Choose one of the new careers that seems to have bright prospects. Select the one everyone is choosing. Do whatever you wish but make sure you make enough money.

The students too are encouraged to choose the career they are interested in. One needs to deliberate carefully here: how is interest different from fancy? I would answer this question thus:

All of us have capacities that are worthwhile for the present and latent potentials that can be honed. A person with alertness will never be jobless and hence be without resources or without viability. Do you have this: an alert head? Discovering one's viability is the key issue.

Second, choose an exploratory mode of learning. Accepting that one is not clear about one's choice, gathering information and learning will make the magic work. This means trusting that there is something in oneself waiting to be discovered. Spending time searching for one's avocation is far better than spending it tied to something just for some money.

Peace Pilgrim was a remarkable woman who walked 20000 miles for peace and then stopped counting. She walked till she was offered shelter and fasted till she was offered food and carried no money. There is the story of a young woman who worked in an office and had a nervous breakdown. Her psychiatrist could do little. She had another breakdown. When she met Peace Pilgrim she was asked what she loved. She loved flowers, liked to swim and liked singing, though she was not very good at it. She got a job as a florist for her livelihood, swam three times a week for exercise and sang once a week at an old age home. Peace Pilgrim says what one needs in life is an avenue of work to earn a livelihood, an avenue of exercise to the body fit and an avenue of service.Third, if you haven't yet found your avocation, explore in an inexpensive manner, not paying a fortune. This is sensible. There are many low key options available. Find things which appeal to you and also find some people who inspire you. Today in libraries and on the Internet there are vast volumes of information available. Read biographies and autobiographies of people who have done something interesting, something exciting. One can draw courage from the lives of contemporary people. There have been many who have dared to dream and act in consonance with their deepest predilections. One can always choose a career, but only after trying to find one's avocation, that special thing for which one would work long hours, for which one needs no external rewards.

The youth have the most enjoyable task of educating themselves and also create models of education that will be useful for future generations. If this has to happen a change has to come about.

G. GAUTAMA