Real problem


The most obvious reaction to this picture is that our education system is flawed and the above problem depicts THE problem - every individual is being given same set of criteria to prove himself/herself. The person behind the table is asking the candidates to perform same act irrespective of the capabilities of the individuals. However, is it really a problem? I don't think so. Real problem is different.

 Real problem is why does the elephant want to get evaluated for a criteria which he is not even meant for? Why is fish and dog standing in the same queue which calls for a skill related to climbing a tree? Shouldn't fish be finding a table that asks for swimming or diving skills? Shouldn't dog be standing in a queue that asks for hunting or protection skills? The person behind the table is looking for a specific skill - climbing a tree. Why should he be blamed for not judging the hunting or swimming skills?

 I believe the problem is not a single criteria of evaluation. The problem is that everyone is rushing to the single opportunity even if it is not matching their skills, their strengths. Not many people are trying to find opportunities  other than the one that is easily visible. If the current system is not presenting the opportunities, we should be creating opportunities ourselves, instead of standing in the queue which doesn't match your capabilities and aspirations. It is in our hands to choose - continue pointing to wrong problem or identify the correct problem and find solution for the same.

 Any thoughts?

Edit: Uploaded the image which went missing!!

Comments

Siddharth Deshpande said…
That's a good question, why are the elephant, dog and fish standing in line for a test of tree climbing skills?

w.r.t our education system, it is because the only perceived guaranteed lifetime supply of food is at the top of the tree.

the bodies of the elephant, dog, fish & penguin are all evolved to be able to find food for themselves on their turf. But then along comes a "more intelligent" creature like a monkey, and slowly starts taking away the food from all their territories and stowing it away on top of the tree. As a result, all the other animals must now learn to climb the tree, or die. This is the evolutionary picture.

What happens in human society is not too different. A few professions (finance being the prime example), manage to concentrate most of the money (our equivalent of food) in their hands, and others don't have as much resources left. That's why others have to compete with the "monkeys". That's why everyone learns on his/her own and teaches their kids to climb trees, never mind whether their bodies (minds) were built for that purpose or not.
April 26, 2012 2:57 PM
Mandar Behere said…
Taking your base - "Only perceived guaranteed lifetime supply of food is at the top of the tree"

If that is accepted as the reason, isn't it too easy for the parents of elephant to show him/her how to get the food even w/o climbing a tree? This is precisely I am pointing out. We need to teach/show our children what are the options available based on their capabilities and skills. We need to encourage them to carve out their own territory where there are no monkeys to fool around. Yes, eventually monkeys will come, but by that time, you should have made life for yourself...
April 26, 2012 6:00 PM
Siddharth Deshpande said…
it's not easy. most of us, parents included, go for safety first. we'd rather become sarkari babus pushing files in a dead-end job all our lives because it guarantees "security" for life. most of us don't want to take a chance with trying out something unconventional, because the risks involved are huge. it's all fine if it works out for someone, but if it doesn't, then he/she's staring at a life of misery, which is what our parents don't want for us.
May 03, 2012 12:54 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is "B A Y"?

Weekend time. I was playing with Mrunmay, one of his games - 3 letter words. Basically there are some paper strips having one letter printed on it and then there's a letter dispenser, which dispenses 2 letters at a time. The game is to make up a word with those two letters and one of the paper strips. It's too early for Mrunmay to know the spellings and obviously the job of finding out matching spellings was with me. After every round, I was telling him the meaning of the word formed, in the form of question / answers. Like "Do you know this word?", "Do you know it's meaning?" and wherever required giving him examples and/or translations. After few rounds, the dispenser gave us two letters: "B" and "A". The only possible combination left was the word "BAY". I started asking him the meaning... Me: "Do you know what is BAY?" Mrunmay: "Bay??" Me: "Yeah.. do you know what is the meaning of Bay?&q
Read more

Subscription Services

Image
As the internet penetration increased over the last 2 decades, it also gave rise to digital subscriptions. The internet users slowly started developing trust in internet-based payments and that too on recurring payments. It probably started with the tech community using the recurring payment systems and slowly spreading that faith to non-tech-savvy users. There was also a phase when I started using the credit card for online transactions but wasn't comfortable storing the card details with the merchant. I used to enter the details every single time. (That is how I still remember the CC number that was in use at that time) In the late 2000's I was introduced to Ecom website development and since then it has been part of my professional as well as personal life. Over the years, I learned about the  PCI-DSS standard , and the extent to which the Ecom companies make an effort to protect consumer data. There have been instances of a data breach across the globe, but alon
Read more

Music Musings

Image
Songs have a huge role in our life. In childhood, the primary source of songs was Radio. It slowly expanded to TV, then dedicated music channels. Somewhere in between or in parallel to Radio and Television, there existed the parallel world of Cassettes (and then later CDs) which served the audience. Since then, we have evolved to on-demand, yet unlimited songs. Each of these phases has/had some peculiarities of its own.  When I was a regular listener of the radio, there was only a handful of channels - probably two or three. One channel was primarily for music where Hindi songs were dominant and the other was for general. I think they were named “ विविधभारती ”, “आकाशवाणी अ” and  “आकाशवाणी ब” etc. The beauty of the songs on the radio channel was the surprise element - you could get to listen to a song of your liking which would lift your mood automatically.  The television channels, specifically those dedicated to music stole the limelight that radio was enjoying. However, in the initia
Read more