I am writing this post to thank you all who read my blog “ To be or not to be an Engineer”. My dear friends: @jmathur @anshumanmaini @rjdsilva @talib_shaikh @maaz_nawaz @gadamitesh @cyrilsunil @nagaraj_bhoopalam @shanx27 @AnotherWriter @Ajay_1977 @alaap and MS team @caretaker @faisal
Your encouragement has compelled me write this one.
The education system in India is tough and offers very little room for creativity, there are only two professions known to a middle class Indian parent – 1) Doctor and 2) Engineer however I do not blame the middle class Indian parent as s/he feels dutiful to provide the best there is for their kids and given the kind of attitude we have entertained all these years where scoring 98 out of 100 is a humiliation for the poor student’s distant uncle, there is little help that comes to the kids.
The education system is governed by the government and it is needless to comment on the speed with which it works, tragchandru021y the future looks bleak for kids in school – there is no help from the Education system, parents are obsessed with the numbers they see on the report cards, neighbors and relatives sympathize with the kids but secretively gain sadistic pleasure when they find that the kid did not score well. Where does the poor kid go from here? Is there any ray of hope for her/him in this quagmire of report cards, boards and entrance exams to pursue what s/he actually wants in life or will this child stop dreaming after primary school?
I find a ray of hope in myself, and if you are reading this then I find this ray of hope in you too. Judging by the comments in my post “To be or not to be and Engineer”, I consider myself not alone, all of us have sailed the same ship and were rocked by the same waves, most of us are now middle aged, married or will get married and we will have kids of our own and that’s where we get a second chance to set things right. Our children will build the next generation. With nascent minds capable of dreaming beyond our wildest imagination, our kids deserve better in their life, there is more to life than the stereotype of “Mera beta Engineer hai” and “Meri Beti Doctor Hai”.
Imagine a new age, a new India and a new world that is far richer in Arts, Music, Sports, Films, Literature along with Engineering, Medicine and Research than any of the Golden ages that humanity has witnessed just because we encouraged our kids to pick up a guitar or a paint brush instead of tormenting them to study all night just so that they could score an extra mark in Physics. It is also quite an irony that Golden Ages are never in the present and always associated with time gone by, however by opening up the doors that our society never knew existed you and I can make history by creating a Golden Age for the future and save a 5 year old child's dream.
