Modern day Youth: Racing for Qualifications and missing the Education?
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Mihindu Rajaratne
Today, we witness a ‘race for qualifications’ among Sri Lankan youth as if that the qualifications are going to ‘run-out of stock’. Parents too have been engaging in this ‘purposeless’ race, thinking that the ‘qualifications’ are mandatory for a secured future. Qualifications are required and may be essential as a prerequisite for certain jobs and but do not guarantee a secured future. The youth, particularly parents must understand the difference between ‘education’ and ‘qualification’ in order to walk through a purposeful journey of life/career. One must also understand that the ‘successes’ are only milestones or stepping stones and the journey of life continues until it decides to end itself. In that context, the ‘education process’ supersedes the importance of the ‘race to obtain qualifications’.
The ‘race’ triggers where parents and youth start comparing themselves with their peers, families, neighbours and relations. This happens, particularly after completing the advance level, where the youth wonders around for options for building their future. This is the point where both the youth and parents tempted to follow the ‘trends in their immediate society’, and forget the need to examine the ‘changing requirements for future jobs or careers or the ambitions and passions of an individual. This has become a ‘purposeless race’ as biologically and fundamentally, we are different from another human being, so as the thinking and desires.
Private formal tertiary education, specially, the University education has become a highly profitable business in Sri Lanka. Most of the times, some programmes are over marketed, without an adequate content on the subjects and programme and a few offers the value of knowledge, skills and attitudinal transformation. Very often, these programmes cater to the ‘need to obtain a qualification fast’, and primarily focus on completing the prescribed modules. Modern day youth, on the others hand, attempts to look for ‘short cuts’ for success or getting qualified with a ‘minimum effort’. It should be noted that many students suffer with relatively ‘weaker’ proficiency in ‘English’ and they even do not attempt to correct it. Youth today, has many distractions, social media in particular and ‘viewing time’ has overshadowed the ‘reading time’. In fact, ‘reading time’ is often compromised on the ‘temptation of viewing time’ This is one of the major reasons for the ‘weak expressions of own ideas in English language’ by youth, which very evident today, unless their medium of formal primary and school education have been in English language. In this context, youth races and chases for ‘quick achievement’ of qualifications and compromising the ‘whole process of education’ which is necessary to transform the personality, in terms of ‘Attitude, Skills & Knowledge’.
A ‘qualification’ is a more specific term referring to the official recognition or certification of a person’s abilities or achievements in a particular area, which are often awarded upon successful completion of a specific course of study, examination, or training programme. It is the tangible acknowledgment of the individual’s competence in a particular field. A ‘qualification’ may require the ‘education’ to perform a job in real circumstances, which comes from various aspect like ‘working with individual, groups’, ‘values’, ‘discipline’, ‘upbringing’, ‘engagements in various activities’, etc. Therefore, a formal recognition or certification may not be useful, if it has no purpose with clarity, complimented by the individual passion and interest. The skills, insights, and attitude towards a task are generally developed in the process of education. This is the reason that certain organizations specifically hire for the ‘attitude’ than skills or knowledge.
‘Education’ is a broader term encompassing the entire process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. ‘Education’ is a wider perspective than a specific field, but referring to number fields, experiences and exposures. It can take various forms, including formal education through schools and universities, as well as informal learning through experiences, self-study, and interactions with the environment. The socialization processes of ‘family and upbringing’ plays a major part of the education.
It is important to recognize the fact that education is the broader process of acquiring knowledge and skills throughout one’s life, while qualification specifically refers to the formal recognition or certification of an individual’s capabilities in a defined area. Someone can be highly educated but may or may not possess formal qualifications, depending on their path of learning and career choices.
The genius, Albert Einstein said, “Education is not learning of facts, but training of the mind to think”.
The write, has been a Senior facilitator/lecturer for undergraduate/postgraduate programs 27 years, is the GM/CEO of LFSBL, holds a MBA (Sri, J), Certified Risk Management professional (RIMS-CRMP), Certified Information Systems Auditor(CISA), Chartered Marketer, Researcher, and a writer of various subjects. He could be reached at rajaratnem@gmail.com.
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