I read an interesting article written by MBakri Musa this morning. I really laud that guy for having the courage to write (and publish!) that article. Had a discussion on the article with my colleagues. Talked a lot about the political situation in the country and we ended up talking about the education system in the country. It sucks!!! Their message to the general public is :
1. If you’re smart : get into the Science stream. If you couldn’t careless : get into the Arts stream.
2. To become a successful professional, one must get into one of the following areas : Medicine, Engineering, Computing, Law or Accounting
3. If you want to do anything else : Good luck
4. Even if you get a degree in, say Interior Designing or Astronomy : Good luck finding a job here
5. Still have an ambition of doing what you really want (other than the 5 above mentioned areas) ? : Get real
It’s wrong. When people say after high school you still don’t know what you want to do in life, that is just a LIE. I can’t speak for other people but to me, that saying is just a piece of crud. I still remember in Primary One, our teacher had asked us what do we want to be when we grow up. We were given 3 options. My options were : 1. writer 2. engineer (even then i was heavily influenced by ‘them’) 3. teacher (as my parents were).
Now, here I am, 19 years later, working with computers. Something that I’m ‘good’ at. It’s just something that I don’t want to do. Even at the age of 7, I knew my passion lies in writing. After high school, I was seriously contemplating between taking up journalism, becoming a chef or going with the 5 ‘heavily-advertised’ area. Being the dimwit that I am, I chose computing knowing that the job prospect will be good and I was slightly interested in this area. I still am.
God knows how often I wished I had taken that odd path down the road after high school. Who knows what I might be doing right now. Currently I’m in a job that I don’t enjoy (although it pays well). Am I still going to do this for the next 20 years? That thought really scares me, but a part of my dimwitted brain says that I shouldn’t quit my day job just yet. Sadly, I am inclined to agree.
p.s. they’ve updated SurvivorNews.Net. Might get an email from the editor soon.
