I was recently at Softwave Gallery to get some prints and there were like four people sitting around, none of whom could do anything. Some were cleaning staff, so fine, but there was one accounts girl who could do absolutely nothing beyond processing payments. Like, she couldn’t even give us a waiting ticket when we came in. Softwave Gallery sucks, that’s another story, go to Anim8 instead.
Anyways, we’re trying to hire someone to do Sinhala events and we got a promising CV from a university graduate. Sri Lanka is the only place I know of where higher education leads to higher unemployment, which is insane. It’s like we spend time and effort actively making people stupider. I mean, to take in the top whatever percent of Sri Lankan students and make them less employable is truly such a grievous sin. So, to return, I was looking at this CV and wondering. It all looks good enough on paper, but what I keep hearing is that the productivity is low and that their motivation is thin. Which we can’t really afford, but I guess we’ll try it out.
This just got me to thinking. How many people in this country do we pay or encourage to make themselves less smart? How many security guards are staring into space for 12 hours a day? How many shopgirls and boys are getting Rs. 500 and a bath packet to stand somewhere and be befuddled and unhelpful? It’s madness. How many government servants does it take to process an application? How many people do you need on a tech support crew? The standard Sri Lankan formula for anything seems to be one to do and four to stand around and watch.
I’m generalizing of course, there are tons of productive Sri Lankans. We are, however, as a society and culture, doing something seriously wrong with our education and employment. We have a higher education system that makes people less employable and entry-level employment that makes them into zombies. If you look at Sri Lankans in the diaspora and what they do, we are wasting a tragic amount of human capital.
What you say is very true. However, many do not understand as these attitudes are inherited from previous generations .
Why don’t you give the guy / gal a chance and not go by what you hear. I have read your posts on education, higher education specifically and have found that it misses some of the nuances of the real situation. Be careful of buying the ( often govt. sponsored) lie that our undergraduates are useless. They only know how to protest. They are not skilled enough for the workplace (like there are jobs a plenty and the private sector is infinitely efficient and productive). Remember how SB used the argument that university entrants did not know how to brush there teeth and therefore had to go through his money spinning leadership training.
Our students are talented, they are smart and most of them want to do something with their lives. I know this because I work with them. There are a few with the wrong kind of attitude; but if you’ve been to a US college you see those who try to go through the process with the minimum amount of work, as well. But that is the minority. At least, give the student some sort of test so that you can assess his or her abilities before you completely write him or her off.
We could easily criticize the people or the system. In my view, we have a policy issue. Few years back when we read a newspaper there were lot of news on bad/damaged roads, transportation difficulties etc. Now we rarely see a news of that kind. Thanks to the policy makers and the leadership, the road system of the country has become fairly good. We just need a proper policy and a good leadership to make a breakthrough and we can do it if we want. The war victory is another good example for a proper policy and a good leadership.
However, I believe that fixing the education system is not in the agenda of the government. It is clearly reflected by the amount they are willing to spend for the education and the people they appointed as the leaders in this area. Only those who educated can understand the value of education.
You forgot to add ‘laziness’ to the title of the post.
It’s not just a policy issue. I think that there is an intrinsic quality of the Sri Lankan workforce (especially government) that revolves around laziness, slacking off from work, bribe-taking and generally being an utter waste of space, time and money. I wonder whether this was brought on from all the years of war. Whatever the case, it is really, really ugly.
Yeah, it’s genetic. Read Robert Knox’s Historical Relation of Ceylon. Knox says that the Sinhalese were the laziest people in the world. This is nothing new. We are just not cutoff for the fast paced Western lifestyle and culture. This lifestyle we lead today is not created by us. We are leading somebody else s lifestyle. No wonder we can’t cope with it.
I agree with Indi, sorry he has got a point. I went to a leading school in Colombo. After my A-levels I knew I would not have a cat in hell’s chance of going to University! @ the age of 18 I joined a leading Company as a Management Trainee. Afterwards I worked for several leading companies in Sri Lanka. I left to UK in late eighties & lived & worked there for 25 years. Now after 25 years I have come back permanently to live & ply my chosen trade of Electrical system design & BMS. I have interviwed so many people as understudies to work for me. I am yet to find somebody of substance & knowledge. All everybody wants to know is HOW MUCH IS THE SALARY!
I visit many government, semi government, private organisations on my business, but I am yet to find any body who actually loves their job or wants to do it efficiently.
PS: I left to UK beacuse I had a very unpleasent experience with the JVP. not b’cos of my political activities! but b’cos of the company I worked for – best company I ever worked here & UK.
MAKE YOUR OWN DEDUCTIONS by reading between the lines if you are clever!
This is true. Us Lankan’s really did understand living well until the bloody sudda came and vomited his bullshit on us. Yes. Slow the pace down. Enjoy life. Things get done eventually. Quicker if you know someone. The alternative is to be like in the west. Work like a dog till you get your little pension constantly audited, harassed by HR, appraised by seniors (mostly idiots), get drunk on the weekend to forget how shit your life is, dream of living one day in the tropics sipping a beer on the beach etc.
So you want to hire an understudy and are annoyed that they want to know how much they will be paid? What did you expect? Someone who would work for nothing? Or could live without having to pay for food, transport and housing? Leave aside University. You need to go back to high school.
Your ‘leading Colombo school’ education opened up doors for you. Perhaps you even had a network by the time you were 18. My point is that these students have doors slammed in their faces just by virtue of the fact that they are graduates of local universities. They are sold on the lie that if you get an education you can become something. They are not told that getting a job depends on class, on political affiliation etc.
I am not surprised that these people you want to hire as understudies are interested to find out how much they are paid. Their parents have toiled their whole lives, to make sure that these kids get an education. They want to give something back and their parents expect something back, as well. You would be surprised to learn how many of these students are actually the breadwinners of their families while still at university.
I am also not surprised that you haven’t met anyone who loves their job and does it efficiently. Perhaps, if people had a choice about what jobs to take then they would choose a career that they love and not just a job! The job market is such that you just grab the first opportunity you get, like it or not. You don’t have to get 18 – 20 years of education to work in a call center but if that is all that is available you take it. I can go on and on…
Perhaps, you are cleverer than me but the point is that the broad brush strokes that are used to paint a picture of our local graduates is unfair to say the least!
Herrnstein and Murray’s “The Bell Curve” (p. 368) makes a statistical analysis showing that raising the average IQ by 3 points would result in radical changes in social behaviour, lowering poverty, health problems, welfare users, imprisonment rates, and children born out of wedlock.
The only solution to this problem here in Sri Lanka is to reduce population growth. A higher number of morons competing for a dwindling share of the pie only breeds more morons…it’s a vicious cycle. I propose an IQ test and a minimum income threshold for having children, and certainly no more than two. The poor, the unhealthy, and the unemployed should not breed until they can get themselves out of their predicament.
Would you advocate killing off the poor, the unhealthy, the mentally ill, the cripples, and the half castes like the Nazis did? Then get all the good looking and intelligent people to interbreed and make a super race.
lol. Samson you do realize that based on your thesis you would be one of the first to go?
I agree with you Such. It is so unfortunate that we still have people thinking like this; may be the products of so called free education too. This kind of opinion has no place in the modern society! Be shameful man!
Dingiri, reading is no use without comprehension. What Lutronman is saying is that potential recruits weren’t interested in their duties, career, etc, but ONLY how much they were going to make. Hope it’s a wee bit clear to you now.
The Sri Lankan population is essentially stable.
We’re actually barely at replacement level so, yeah, we don’t need to genocide the poor and the weak.
Remember the person obsessively talking about intelligence and IQ scores, calling every other person a moron and quoting from “The Bell Curve” on this blog recently? Not a Nazi. He wanted a Jewish father.
I wonder what proportion of the world’s truly great people were third or later children of their families, or came from underprivileged backgrounds.
Maybe I will. Its up to me what I choose to do. This Sri Lanka hating thing is a common disease here among the frustrated coconut classes. Be thankful for what you have. People world over are fighting and dying to have a land of their own. Do what you can to improve things in any way you want to. Its up to all of us to contribute. Talk is cheap you useless so called “educated” cunts. Don’t just suck white mans balls and enjoy getting ass fucked by them (unless of course you enjoy that sort of thing). Go out there, contribute and make a difference. And don’t go blaming the politicians. Sure they are corrupt but aren’t they all everywhere.
BTW what is your contribution to developing this country? Nothing? Nada? Nil? Pathetic weak minded idiots like you make me sick. All you do is talk shit and contribute shit. Before you hate your country you have given your heart and soul to making a difference to it. Your existence is truly worthless. Bloody looser. Bugger of somewhere else.
“Coconut classes” – haha, love it. I’m going to use that term now.
Indi, why did you delete that idiots comments? Now people will think I have Tourettes. lol.
Sagarage kathawata man sanmpurnayenma ekagayi. Ape unge thiyenne areta apu kammalikamak. Meka mulu dakunu aasaiyawatama podu deyak. Mulu dakunu aasiyawema inna kammali kalakanni jaathi. Satha pahakata wadak naha.
Machang, meke sinhalen tayip karonda barida ban???? ???? ???????, ??? ????? ??????.????
Kale kohomatath kawanewa yako. Kammali unnath natthath. Anika satha paha koheda dan? Umba wikara kiyawanawa. Gihin budiyagannin. Nattham mama Samson ta umba gana kiyanawa. Ethakota umbe bella wale thammai.
Ha yes I thought you were on a trip, until I read this comment. Yeah, fux the knox, I love SL life style(s) except when I want to do something, like work!
Good point according to sri lankan life style have to much consider about salary. because some company doesnt pay enough salary for workers. and try to get maximum from them . its illusion. when company doesnt care about there workers who gonna care about company. simple point do you like work some place who not given enough salary to your life ?Many depend on company situation that my idea.
The average IQ of Sri Lankans is just 81. 81 is described as “borderline retarded” or “dull”. You can’t expect anything more than what you see now, from people whose average IQ is 81. You can’t beat mother nature. Just the questioning alone as to why we can’t we like Europeans or Japanese shows we are very low IQ people, incapable of anything advanced.
LOL my sister, (who is now 28) Used to have a sri lankan friend. She was soooo dumb! Her name was tharny. OMG you cannot believe how idiotic she was.
Sinhalese (and all brown people in general) are a lazy people. Robert Knox observed this 400 years ago and wrote about it in his journals. It’s mostly genetic.
What I see in construction is trained professionals, at the top of their professional, lacking almost any critical thinking skills.
I see clients with exactly the same.
Very little ability to think beyond what worked before, and very little appreciation of risk and consequences, and how to avoid problems with simple measures such as risk management, planning, and so on.
A culture of glass half full people, who are amazed when things go wrong.
You can tell them of course, but they’ll argue back, because what would a westerner know of anything?
Even if you do manage to convince them, they just revert quickly to type.
Too much class system, far too much deferment to rank and position, often enough to people who have absolutely no knowledge of much at all, and who only got their jobs through family connections.
As my (Sri Lankan expat) boss said to me: Sri Lankans don’t train well!
Well… I guess this is true…
Holy shit you people have no respect for Sri Lankan’s and THEY ARE NOT FUCKIN DUMB SHIT OK???
You guys should fuck off because we’re not lazy and fuckin dumb ok so stop with all this fucking bull shit!