New perspectives
7 months have gone by ever since I graduated from college. Seems eternity. I discovered how indecisive, picky and fickle-minded I actually was, not to mention a champion at procrastinating! You could say I went through a process of shedding of false and some worn-out skins. How conveniently I had been wearing them unaware that those were but compulsions imposed subtly by what our milieu finds befitting. I happened to attend a seminar on Education and Academics yesterday. And what I am able to claim here is largely out of a revelation I received from this experience, if not totally born of it.
You could be wondering how such a seminar with it's focal point as 'academics' was able to give this kind of an impact. Well bottom line: everything boils down to what we all fondly call 'life', doesn't it? And the seminar in all respects taught about life simply by taking up one of it's forms in academics. Some questions raised at the seminar: Have we ever sat down and questioned why we have to study what we study and why through particular modes? Who decided that? In case of India, weren't it the British who simply imposed a system foreign to our land and culture without providing "our" then new 'pseudo-system' any foundational historical backgrounds from which theirs was birthed in the first place? Look at our educational system today. At the start of this entry I mentioned I graduated. I have a degree, but have I formed skills strictly within the University's academic environment which enables me to enter the workforce directly and be immediately involved in any productive activity? Why do I need extra months of training after I join a firm, which by the way has very less to do with the content of my course during college, if not nothing. Why does the purpose of studies have to be the procurement of a certain type of employment so that we can support ourselves, get married and have kids and then make our kids study so they could carry on the same darn cycle?! Is this the purpose of knowledge? If so, we're thinking way too small. Where is the meaning of life in this?
I realised what I had been trying to do the past 7 months was what was expected of me. So far, I've gotten nowhere. I haven't found a job because 'society' compelled me to think I was too good for a mediocre job since I studied one of the prestigious courses from one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. But on the other hand, there was no suitable job open to me which I 'deserved' provided my background. Now who decides what's mediocre and what's elite? Forget that, why did I even want to work in the corporate world in the first place? Just because I happened to join a pool of graduates who predominantly go for this sector, or are just expected to?
My next step probably is to study again. This past few months have been a literal unintended break. But if I do study I want to study something that brings me to life, not because it's 'elite'. And if I do end up studying again I want to study to know my world around, to critique and to propose. When forms get oppressive challenge it with new better forms. That's what I'd like to do. However if I end up working, doesn't matter what, I want to keep my eyes open to the sub-systems and mini-forms around me. I want to work with an embracing attitude towards life and towards people, embracing truths revealed and embracing new challenges. Whichever way, I shall never stop learning.
I've learned new beautiful things about life. So I don't consider the past few months a waste even though I was technically not doing anything concrete. I know who it is that upholds me and who it is that teaches me and opens up my eyes to His Kingdom here on earth. It is only through Jesus that I can take great risks because in the end it is His story, and it is Him that matters and that He has already conquered it all. So I can rest even in the storms life brings. He holds my life firmly. He is the reason.
You could be wondering how such a seminar with it's focal point as 'academics' was able to give this kind of an impact. Well bottom line: everything boils down to what we all fondly call 'life', doesn't it? And the seminar in all respects taught about life simply by taking up one of it's forms in academics. Some questions raised at the seminar: Have we ever sat down and questioned why we have to study what we study and why through particular modes? Who decided that? In case of India, weren't it the British who simply imposed a system foreign to our land and culture without providing "our" then new 'pseudo-system' any foundational historical backgrounds from which theirs was birthed in the first place? Look at our educational system today. At the start of this entry I mentioned I graduated. I have a degree, but have I formed skills strictly within the University's academic environment which enables me to enter the workforce directly and be immediately involved in any productive activity? Why do I need extra months of training after I join a firm, which by the way has very less to do with the content of my course during college, if not nothing. Why does the purpose of studies have to be the procurement of a certain type of employment so that we can support ourselves, get married and have kids and then make our kids study so they could carry on the same darn cycle?! Is this the purpose of knowledge? If so, we're thinking way too small. Where is the meaning of life in this?
I realised what I had been trying to do the past 7 months was what was expected of me. So far, I've gotten nowhere. I haven't found a job because 'society' compelled me to think I was too good for a mediocre job since I studied one of the prestigious courses from one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. But on the other hand, there was no suitable job open to me which I 'deserved' provided my background. Now who decides what's mediocre and what's elite? Forget that, why did I even want to work in the corporate world in the first place? Just because I happened to join a pool of graduates who predominantly go for this sector, or are just expected to?
My next step probably is to study again. This past few months have been a literal unintended break. But if I do study I want to study something that brings me to life, not because it's 'elite'. And if I do end up studying again I want to study to know my world around, to critique and to propose. When forms get oppressive challenge it with new better forms. That's what I'd like to do. However if I end up working, doesn't matter what, I want to keep my eyes open to the sub-systems and mini-forms around me. I want to work with an embracing attitude towards life and towards people, embracing truths revealed and embracing new challenges. Whichever way, I shall never stop learning.
I've learned new beautiful things about life. So I don't consider the past few months a waste even though I was technically not doing anything concrete. I know who it is that upholds me and who it is that teaches me and opens up my eyes to His Kingdom here on earth. It is only through Jesus that I can take great risks because in the end it is His story, and it is Him that matters and that He has already conquered it all. So I can rest even in the storms life brings. He holds my life firmly. He is the reason.
Comments
Post a Comment