View from the McGill lawn. Photo by Mysteral
I used to always ask what the point of school was. Like, what does a report on killer whales have to do with anything? Or dressing up as the Founding Fathers. For the latter I drew names and got Benedict Arnold. Rather disturbing for the only brown kid, now that I think about it. In college I took some Ed Psych, but never got a satisfactory answer. I didn’t think that the ‘real world’ involved so many papers, like, how does anyone get paid for that? I always thought ‘work’ involved more heavy lifting. I literally thought that you’d need to move things around. Turns out its the same old shit. Insomuch as I have a job, I write papers, do presentations, work in groups, and get the same vomitous crunch at the end of the month – just like exam time. There’s less reading, but as far as I can tell, the working world is exactly like school.
Papers
The default at McGill was 20 pagers, which are actually useless for work. Well, sorta, business plans are like 20-30 (I use pictures) and annual reports and stuff are about that size. I’d say that 90% of the docs I write are less than 2 pages – either pitches or contracts or formal letters. One thing school didn’t teach me is to summarize information. Sri Lankan schools are especially bad at this. Some of the stuff I get to edit is just bloated beyond belief – a haphazard tangle of passive sentences and never-ending clauses. For a lot of people you can delete, literally, half. Some things don’t even need to be written at all. Most people you are sending a written doc to barely have time to read your name, so I try to have a couple bold headings and then further info if they need. If I was teaching anybody I’d teach them to delete and trim documents to the absolute minimum.
On most pitches you’re bullshitting anyways, so there’s no point giving anyone extra information. If it’s a pitch then complexity will just sink you. It’s different if you’re writing about genomics and the prof know how to read your references, but simple and 7th grade level seems to always work for business. Facts and research don’t actually matter, cause no one fucking cares. Just say synergy and ‘good’ a couple times and it’s all good. If you’re confident and connected it’s irrelevant. If you’re not, then no amount of reality is going to get you the job anyways.
Presentations
Since I was 5 we’ve been doing presentations for the class, about 20 people I guess. Again, that was too big. Most presentations are, in my experience, for 1-5 people, max. Anything bigger is probably useless cause you’re not talking to the decision makers. I wish they’d done more stuff in that type of situation, like one-on-one pitches. It was like that in seminars, but that was only 4th year.
I have also spent countless hours photocopying and gluing posters together, which does not exactly apply in the work world. I never use PowerPoint cause that requires too much equipment and it’s stupid. At most I’ve used one sheet of printed paper and mouth. That’s kinda not what we learned in school, you just go up and talk for 5 minutes uninterrupted. Not wholly realistic, but I think it still prepares you for the general thing.
Working in Groups
Which I didn’t and don’t like. It was useful to practice, though, I guess. I find that all the explaining and stuff means that no work gets done. The only time I like working in groups is if the task is clearly divided and we barely meet. They never did teach us to divide up a job and actually have productive meetings, but I’ve at least been going through the motions for 16 years.
Networking
This is probably the most valuable thing about school, and why extra-curriculars are encouraged I guess. In SL especially, it’s all who you know. I (think I) happen to be good at what I do, but a lot of clients don’t even ask for prior work or a resume, so long as I’m referred. I actually haven’t updated my CV in a year cause no one’s ever asked for it. I don’t think my publisher even knows my home address. I think this is why B students who party a lot end up being successful, whereas keeners end up working for them. That’s also why the insane Sri Lankan competition is criminal. All the medium students who would drive your economy are locked out of state-run higher education and there are no private uni’s to pick up the slack. What you’re left with is people who study way too much and don’t network enough.
Mmmm, so I guess school isn’t exactly like the work world, but it was way closer that I’d thought. I’d always thought something more interesting went on in those glass buildings, but it’s same same. School was actually way more interesting, cause the topics weren’t, like, underwear or I kinda miss getting all worked up about Video Games or how many times Americans say ‘fuck’. In general however, I think a western education prepares you pretty well for the information economy. I think a Sri Lankan education fails, mainly cause it’s over competitive and the schooling is too rigid. American/Canadian education wasn’t really calibrated with the real world, but you could sorta slack off and approximate the working. By being a mediocre student you could learn how to be a good, sociable knowledge worker. Here there are so few educational opportunities that you end up getting people that are specialized in something that’s actually quite obscure.
you are right the most (imo, the only) valuable thing about school was networking. too bad i did not quite get it then, but fortunately that sort of network is giving way to newer sort, another benefit of liberalized economy. simply put school does not matter anymore, in sri lanka.
anyway, studying hard never ever gets anyone anywhere, wherever the person is, learning does. :-)
and you can not learn anything in sri lankan state controlled universities.
Yeah right…
I think Prabath, what the Nutty one means by that statement is that state-controlled universities just seem to be SO er… shall we say conflict oriented. The majority at the universities seem to be more engaged in stirring up trouble than actually getting an education – which is actually the main reason for enrolling into a university.
Personally, given the choice, I would never have chosen a state university, for the simple reason that so much of shit seems to be going on in there that it is something I’d rather distance myself from…
And what really irks me is that thanks to the ‘rioters’ – everyone’s education in the university is delayed by a number of months, years, etc. And I don’t think that’s something most of us are willing to risk…I’m DEFINITELY not!
So taking all this and related incidents into account – I guess you couldn’t really blame the Nut or anyone else for having adverse opinions about the quality of state-controlled university education.
now i dont attend a State-controlled university, probably i never will attend one,
but i think there is a general misconception about a section of ppl that sate universities are useless, and creates unproductive, unprofessional students.
that’s just not true. yeah shit happens, but not all the time, not everywhere.
(mis)conceptions, especially when they can have real (read monetary) effects, have solid foundations.
yeah.. i agree.
the most important thing these days about schooling is networkin.
but the issue is you need to go to either STC, THORA, DSSC, ANANDA, NALANDA or CIS, AIS, STAFFORD, british school and elizabeth moir to do it or get it right.
indi what you are missin is that. normal sri lankan kids who goes to norm schools like battaramulla madya maha vidyalaya cant even hink about networkin mate..
thats why the sri lankan university system can be handy.
Sri lankan Universities ROCKS!!!!
THEY got the biggest and the BEST branys there…
you have to admit that!!!!
The University of Ceylon produced excellent graduates, prior to interference in the 1960’s.
Alumni from the old era have shone in all parts of the globe. EFC Ludowyk, is but one example. If you have had the priviledge of meeting any of the former Ceylon Civil Service staff you will know what I mean. (There is an association of ex-CCS staff that meet annually).
Post state interference, standardisation, et al we produce graduates that nobody seems to want.
Reflects the general deterioration in the state as a whole.
“general misconception about a section of ppl that sate universities are useless, and creates unproductive, unprofessional students.”
How do you explain the presenec of ever increasing numbers of unemployed graduates? This is not short-term unemployment either- they are long term unemployed implying that they are unemployed for structural, rather than cyclical reasoms. Mahinda is stuffing a few thousand into the (already bloated and inefficient) state sector. These are not real jobs nor does it involve productive work, just a position and pay and some work created to fill up the hours.
A very interesting point you’ve made here. Of course, my experience with the Sri Lankan education system in schools (as a student) is that the various skills you’ve mentioned above – papers, presentations, groups, networking – weren’t part of the curriculum when I was a student. Of course, the government has tried hard to implement similar concepts in the recent past, but generally I think the emphasis in education has stayed on passing exams.
Which is why I take exception to the sweeping statement made by Nadeeka. The schools he mentions are well known (with STC and Thora normally being considered one and the same) and I suppose the networking capabilities are greater due to the type of people you find there. But that doesn’t necessarilly mean that everyone who goes to one of those schools has a great network.
The onus is on the individual to make things happen. There are plenty of people from, let’s say – less well known schools, who have been able to develop networks effectively and use it to further their lives. Being the right personality and behaving in the “right” manner will open doors that most people didn’t even notice.
This also applies to the state universities. You’ll find plenty of undergraduates there who expect the government to give them jobs and then mope about when they don’t get any. But there are also plenty of undergrads who make things happen. That is not achieved through complaining, but rather by learning and developing the skills required to make it big.
It’s a shoddyworkman who blames his tools.
Jack Point: I agree with your comments regarding the unemployed undergraduates – to an extent. Here again is in my opinion a matter of attitude. Just like those who excelled in the past, there are many university students who excel today. It’s just that there are far too many who expect jobs without taking the time to evaluate or develop their skills and proficiencies.
As much as it’s the government’s fault for not taking adequate steps to update the curriculum to meet the needs of the day, it’s also the undergrad’s fault for sitting around and expecting things to work out for him.