The best professional I have ever come across has been my ex-driver, who donned the role as a driver and also ran errands at my office. A high school drop-out, he lost his father in his teens. Professionalism ran in his blood. All the four years that he was with me, he was always on time. He was conscious of his responsibilities. He would never get hurt or be defensive. He took pains to understand his tasks properly and whenever he did not execute them, (an insignificant number of times), proactively kept me informed about his inability to do so. He understood the boundaries of his role and never ever trespassed it. He integrated with my team members beautifully to become, their “Anna”(Elder brother in Tamil).
Some of the other best professionals I have hired, have come from families where the bread winner happens to have climbed coconut trees, run biryani shops in small towns, painters, electricians, government school teachers and the list could go on. The breadwinners could only afford to send them to tier 2 or tier 3 colleges, in tier 2 or tier 3 cities. They exhibited an insatiable hunger to learn. Their approach to work , especially their planning and their ability to organize themselves was immaculate. The quality of their work was top class. Despite the fact that many of them, were not able to speak or write proper English, I have witnessed the miracle of application, when error free, complex documents, have been published in English by these people. The products of tier 2 or tier 3 colleges had it within them to produce the miracles. Some of the them were better than the products that best institutes that this country boasts off.
I would not rush to generalize or discuss that this could be an exception and need not be a rule. But the question that arises on the top of the mind, whether it is my driver or the professionals from tier 2 or tier 3 cities, lies the mysterious question, how did they learn to become what they became, since it is very difficult for their parent to have imparted many of the skills, knowledge or qualities. The best their parent could have done is to have done some broad goal setting.
Part 2
On tangential note, the (supposedly) wintry nights(December) in Chennai, witness the long queues for Kinder Garden admission(in June) to the best schools in Chennai. And here begins the quest for branding. Does the best schools impart the best education? Does the best schools have the best teachers?
Some statistics (Oct 15, 2014, The Hindu) (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/teacher-test-throws-up-low-scores/article6502443.ece)
Quote
The Central Teacher Eligibility test, introduced to bring in national standards in recruitment of teachers for classes I-VIII after the enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, has consistently thrown up low scores with the highest pass percentage hovering around 10-11 per cent, nationally.
In Chennai, 1,035 candidates had registered for Paper I and 2,763 candidates for Paper II. It is mandatory for teachers to clear the CTET for appointment in classes I to VIII in central government schools.
In the September test conducted by CBSE, nationally, 11.95 per cent of the candidates cleared Paper I, meant for teachers intending to teach classes I-V.
In Paper II, meant for those intending to teach classes VI-VIII, just 2.8 per cent of the candidates passed the muster nationally. Candidates have to score 60 per cent and above to get the eligibility certificate.
The highest pass percentage in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test has hovered around 10-11 per cent, nationally
Unquote
What kind of education can be imparted by these teachers? What kind of role models can these teachers be?
Is there a gap between the perceived brand and the intrinsic merit our schools?
Do the unrequited dreams of parents stop after their wards get branded at these reputed schools.
The thirst does not seem to be quenched.
The next stop has to be the national schools of repute in Technology and Engineering who after its existence of more than fifty years do not seem to have produced a single noble laureate. A lot of tax payer’s money being spent on Engineering courses, whose main goal seems to be staff the services industry.
Are the teachers in the Technology and Engineering Colleges equipped enough to impart the necessary education?
Is there a gap between the perceived brand and the intrinsic merit of students coming out of our Technology and Engineering colleges?
The unrequited dreams of parents extrapolates to management Institutes, employment in organizations of repute and then goes on to caress the American dream, and then hovers around to find new competitive benchmarks of perceived brands and then drive their wards until they are completely out of focus.
Part 3
The first part of my post focuses on intrinsic individual excellence being achieved despite not studying in the best of colleges.
The second portion of my post focuses on the baggage that we carry as a society about perceived brands.
Clearly the intrinsic merits of individuals is not automatically guaranteed just because the individual has gone to a good school, or a reputed organization or studied abroad or worked abroad.
A student coming out of the best colleges, universities or organization’s is certainly not the gift of god to mankind!! The proof of the pudding has to be in the eating.
Are we discussing something new or is the general public not aware of this phenomena?
There may be nothing new that is being discussed. However sadly, there does not seem to be a collective will to solve this problem which seems to be perpetually haunting us and wrecking millions of lives and costing us a lot of money.
And a lot of decision making process is largely based on perception without data.
With influencers at large, their extraordinary unrequited desires, scary expectation and perceptions, there has to be a sense of urgency in bridging the gap between perception and fact. No further time must be lost.
The onus has to be on the providers of education and employment to help the public at large to set expectations which help them get a connect with reality.
IN fact Universities and employers can work together to resolving this predicament as they are the affected parties as well.
With so much of data available, it is now possible to compile that data and harness it into meaningful information for its stakeholders and prospective stakeholders.
Data must be published to set realistic expectations.
It must become imperative for all entities to publish meaningful brand indices, which will help stakeholders understand the brand value of entities and hopefully will effectively bridge the gap between perception and fact.
And I fervently hope that one day, there is a shift in perception(based on data), not in the distant future, it must become more fashionable and profitable to be a farmer in India, than an NRI in the USA!!!!
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