all work and no play
thats what a typical indian mentality is. we work hard to get good scores in high school, so that we can get into a good degree program. and as soon as we get into one, we start thinking about the next step. well it sounds good to many people, but when you do it, it really sucks. and all the while we just concentrate on the theory part..... hands on experience is just a joke. and then we do manage to get into a good job at around 24, and most of us would have even got our masters degree by then. yeah its all still good, but looking around I gather that I have missed out a lot on the fun part.
most of us enter the job market only after a masters degree, as is the case with me too. a lot of stuff that I did while at grad school never made any sense to me. all those complicated communication models were nothing more than nightmares to me. but now at work, all those things are making more sense. too late, had I known then, I would have easily overwhelmed all those courses, without putting those long hrs at the study hall and library.
I think it definitely helps to get some hands on experience, I mean some real stuff, before committing towards a masters degree. I really like the way people deal this here, many opt for a grad school only after about 5 yrs of experience. some of my course mates at UCSB were in their late 30's.
1 or 2 yrs of experience in a totally different field will do no good either, some indians do that too :)
4 Comments:
how true.. thinking of the trigonometry & discrete stuff i learnt during my bachelors... damn.. don't think i wd ever use them in my life.
- Chakra.
Hey Chakra, I feel the same way about geography, and biology. yikes those courses sucked big time.
Jagan athimber, thanks for the positive words. thats right, I might get new meanings out of the book at a later time. also depennds on the mindset I guess.
I'm equally surprised to know that the author of alchemist is famous in India too, particularly our good old coimbatore.
I'm going to get more Paulo Coelho books.
Dude
Few comments on this. While I agree partly with your opinion that Indians have more theoritical knowledge and less of hands-on experience, I do think the Indian educational system gives a person a much wider perspective of things than the system here. Did I like my geography and history classes or my discrete math or algebra..No !
But did I gain from reading them anyways. A resounding yes. My education made me what I am today to a great extent. Some hands on experience would have helped, no doubt. But I think it still worked to a good extent than what you think it would. I find only a small percentage of Americans aspire. A majority just go with the tide, not really having an aspiration, a goal to excel in life. I think the Indian system, given its competition and all, makes you a survivor and also an achiever who tries time and again to excel and go beyond the ordinary.
dude, we learn a lot in India, I agree. I definitely feel that if we work for sometime and then continue education, then we can understand the bigger picture more clearly. that also helps in designing systems more effectively.
I was never criticizing the Indian educational system, but the Indian mentality. It will be nice to see if more people adopt the study-work-study-work format than study-study......-study-work format.
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