Dear Readers,
One of the common debates, we tend to hear in
the current context is ‘How important is education, in the success of an
individual?”. The general sentiment today seems to be in favour of NO. We
believe that schools and colleges of today, is not preparing leaders for
tomorrow, rather it is just preparing a bunch of clerks.
While I understand the reasons for this
changing mindset, I am still in favour of formal education. Let me substantiate
this with some points.
I often tell people, that this country can
develop into a strong nation, only when educated people enter politics and take
up leadership roles. One of the counter argument, I hear when I say that, is
that, “It is not necessary for a person to be educated to enter politics,
rather that person should have good intentions” . The political leader often
cited to substantiate this claim is, former Chief Minister of the state Thiru.
K Kamaraj. While this is a valid example they are making, let us ponder as to
how many such good exemplary leaders do we really have? On the contrary, can we
ever discount the contribution of so many educated leaders such as Gandhi, Jawaharalal
Nehru, Sardar Vallabbhai Patel or Ambedkar and so on?
Similarly, when we talk about education as an
important factor to be successful in career, people tend to defend by saying,
“Not necessarily “ and cite examples of people like Bill Gates, who was a
school dropout or Dirubhai Ambani, who had no formal schooling. Well, these people have undoubtedly made it
great in life, but again how many of such examples do we have. On the other
hand, think about the many educated people who have been highly successful in
their careers, such as Steve Jobs, Narayana Moorthy, Indra Nooyi or Sundar
Pichai.
In all the cases, it is clear that the
educated people dominate the list of highly successful people. If we look at
ratio of successful people who are not educated versus the successful people
who are educated, the ratio may be something like 1:10 respectively. This is
just a wild guess.
While it is true that there are exceptional
cases of people, who are illiterate or didn’t have formal schooling but who
have made it big in life, it still doesn’t make a valid point of contention. So,
the point I wish to make is “exceptions shouldn’t be taken as examples.”
Now the question is, if that is the case, why
do we often glorify such people rather than the educated and successful people.
The answer is this. These types of
exceptional leaders are rare and it is a general trend that we tend to
appreciate what is rare and what is not common.
Moreover, the fundamental reason to nurture
these thoughts is to inculcate hope in the minds of people, who have not had
the capacity to pursue academics or who have met with less academic success. That
is to say, when someone is not successful in education, we don’t need to
completely give up on them, rather motivate them with these examples, which
give them a hope that they too can become successful people.
This sort of inspiration still continues to
build successful entrepreneurs and leaders and that is a good thing. While
leadership seems to be an inborn trait, found in anyone irrespective of whether
that person is educated or uneducated, Education certainly provides the
competency one needs to be a more resourceful thinker and therefore lead more
effectively.
So, while we admire these exceptional people,
let us not take them as examples, rather commit ourselves to be a master of our
craft, by conscious effort of learning and building our skills.
All of us are planted with the seed, which
has an innate ability to succeed. Education is just like a nursery, which nurtures
the seed to bloom into a flowering plant. When an tested and trusted framework is
available, why leave success to chance.
Happy Reading
D. Senthil Kannan
Article Dated April 2017
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