Story of my life

Which is why I spend my days making stationary rather than doing what I've been trained to do.
Not that making stationary is a bad thing (it's so much fun!), nor that my current part-time job is awful (I've grown to appreciate art so much more by teaching art; plus the wonders it has done to the confidence in my own teaching skills), but I understand what this article's title means. However, quite possibly in a much different way from what the actual article means. (note: dear journalists, please make headlines and article text match a bit more, yeah?)

The topic addressed in the article isn't isolated in India alone. I'm sure lots of college grads have a "Now What?" feeling once the hype and relief of finally getting that degree in their hands is over (been there, done that). Even more may get the same feeling after months of fruitless job searching and networking of industrial strength capacity. Some of it can be chalked up to the intensely media-cized economic situation. Most of it has nothing to do with the job market outlook whatsoever.

What I find to be slightly unreasonable is for people to assume that fresh graduates have refined social/professional skills and general worldliness just because we can claim a BS/BA to our names. It's kind of like me assuming my students can read with the same fluency and comprehension as their speaking skills. There is reading, and there is speaking, and then there is the connection between the two that no content standard addresses with any kind of satisfaction.

But there's potential! That all elusive, sometimes disappointing, intangible thing that disappears the moment you look directly at it and sprouts back up when you least expect it! Not all students can read. But all students have the potential to. This kind of tells me that sometimes society views education as a means to an end, as opposed to just an end. Which is just as legitimate and worthy as the other way, or any other way for that matter. Hey, the more ways you can squeeze out, the higher the value of your education.

Now of course, no employer will hire someone based on potential alone (unless it's a modeling agency or the like). There's many other factors built in as well. But as a potential employee, I'm looking for an employer who will offer ways and means for me to develop my potential, build upon my skills, and place me where I can be most effective. I'm not a drone that some university's mass production line spat out into the world. Even if I weren't college educated, I'm still not a drone that some high school spat out either. I'm willing to start at the very bottom - frankly, even I think that's all I'm fit to start out on - but I'm sure not going to stay there.

Key quote:

"The biggest problem is the poor quality of teachers," he said. "The teaching profession is unable to attract good talent. It is often the last resort for people who could not make it elsewhere."

See what I mean about this not being an India-only issue? Look carefully, there is so much more that is wrong with this quote than meets the eye.

Once again, no answers here. Just thoughts.