Education - No longer a passion

I read a report recently that BPO businesses are planning to recruit students right out of Class XII. Its disturbing & sounds too real. I have worked in a BPO for sometime, & I have seen the people there. Working at an executive level hardly gives you any exposure. India is a country rich in cheap and available labour, and everything has a market here. But a spectre of an army of corporate citizens is a cause for concern for those who care about the state of our education & people like me, who are still hunting for jobs that fit their finesse.

Our country is changing at an extraordinary pace. But in the shindig about numerous shopping malls & markets, roads & highways, services, airports & towns, we are perhaps ignoring the cornerstone on the development agenda - investment in human capital.

Every 4th person I meet plans to either do an MBA or a course in IT, acting or modelling. Tersely put, something that would flood their bank accounts in the shortest time possible. While some overtly describe their ambitions to earn money (couldn't get anymore direct), some covertly say they want to be successful, learn more & deliver to the best of their capabilities & increase their 'market value'. Its as different as cod & caviar! Even I plan to do an MBA, but so to speak, this is the new paradigm that is implicitly acknowledged in any discussion. Everyone craves for success, and success here subsumes the rather stronger ambition - money. Power only follows suit.

My father is a Political Science professor. I have known him to have a penchant for his subject. He was a bright student & could have chosen a la dolce vita, had it been for him. But education for him is an endeavour to elevate one's level of consciousness to the point where one is able to embark on a journey to self-development & self-fulfilment.

I am too young to be saying things have changed, but I guess they have. Indeed, students pursuing Arts subjects at public schools here are objects of derision. Even I mocked at students of Literature, History, Political Science, Philosophy, Hindi & Natural Sciences. No reasonably bright student is expected to take up these subjects for the sake of knowledge. Well, what good is doing a graduation in any of these, when all you plan to do is take an MBA entrance test? Does it help? Is it even remotely related?

Essentially for the middle class, an absolute educational reform is a must. Tinkering with the system wont help. We need a revolution. Something that would open up new vistas, bringing the system back on track.