Roundtable
Education
The Roundtable Open Forum XX - March 17 - 23
EDITOR
The Rules of the forum are posted here on the right, and need to be followed strictly by all participants.
The following is this week's (March 17 - 23) topic for discussion, which should focus on the questions posed therein:
EDUCATION
1 Sikhs around the world have gravitated to, and made their mark in, two general areas of endeavour: professions and entrepreneurship.
2 There are no professions in which Sikhs have not excelled in: be it as scientists, physicians and dentists, farmers, lawyers, statesmen, nurses, architects, accountants, soldiers (air, water and land), teachers and professors, engineers ... whatever!
3 There are no fields of entrepreneurship in which Sikhs haven't risen to the top, through sheer dint of hard work, innovation and integrity.
4 Compared to those of us who have already covered much of our journey and are already into our careers, our children find themselves in a world quite different from the one in which we grew up. To begin with, they are brighter and certainly more advanced in the use of technology. They are more savvy in this Information Age than any of the old fogies are. And the technology that they now have on their finger-tips outstrips anything either Jules Verne or H.G. Wells may even have imagined in their wildest of creative moments.
5 But they are young and the young can always use the wisdom of age and experience. It no longer suffices to nudge our offspring blindly towards the traditional professions and fields of endeavour, without laying out the full array of real choices available to them, and weighing each in the context that the world is continually changing - it is almost a guarantee that it will be a markedly different place in 2020!
QUESTIONS TO PONDER
- What would you advise a young man and woman about to finish high school, in terms of how to go about assessing their choices?
- As members of a visible minority, are some professions and endeavours better, in terms of exposing us lesser to the whims and idiosyncracies of others?
- In today's world, how does one follow one's bliss and, at the same time, prepare oneself for a meaningful career? Are the two mutually exclusive? Is it any easier today to do this, than it was for us a few decades ago?
- In a world where people are now changing professions or career paths or direction at single-decade intervals, how can our young keep their options open, or remain versatile or eclectic?
- Or is it still safe to simply head into medicine, law, dentistry, engineering, etc.?
- Are professions like journalism, music, art, sports, etc., worth pursuing as new options?
Comments and feedback from parents and other adults will be most helpful. As well, further questions posed by our young readers will be equally useful to all.
Conversation about this article
1: Gursharan Kaur (Pittsburgh, U.S.A.), March 17, 2010, 9:47 AM.
We, as a community, are now well past the 'survival' stage. We are flourishing - according to some studies, Sikhs represent the highest per-capita earning ethnicity in the U.S. - and our children do not have to worry about basic necessities. It is time to nudge them in the direction of the Arts, Sports, Journalism, Politics, Law, etc. The future of the community now rests on their shoulders. Communities were never built on the shoulders of physicians, engineers, dentists, etc. - with no offence intended to these groups; my family and I are proud members of them all!
2: I.J. Singh (New York, U.S.A.), March 17, 2010, 9:49 AM.
A good topic, though I see that now fewer young Sikhs are going into medicine or dentistry; more are opting for law, finance and business management. (However, with the economy where it is, Banking and Investment Banking seem have lost their lustre!) A few years ago it was medicine, dentistry and engineering that excited them. This should make a good discussion. There was a time not so long ago - two decades at best - when engineers were a dime a dozen, now they are hardly to be found. Now MBA's are a dime a dozen, if not two or three dozen for the proverbial dime.
3: Balbir Singh (London, United Kingdom), March 17, 2010, 1:44 PM.
My suggestion is that, no matter what, each young man and woman should first complete an undergraduate degree with a liberal dollop of arts and social science, before heading into a specialized area. I see too many of us around who are very successful career-wise and top-of-the-heap in their professions, but who get goofy or infantile the moment they open their mouths on things outside their areas of expertise. A base of liberal studies, I believe, is fundamental to developing leadership skills for use when one is past establishing oneself financially.
4: Hardeep Singh (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.), March 17, 2010, 3:43 PM.
To me the best profession is the one in which you can find your passion. The drive comes from within and thus you are not worried about the external upward or downward trends. Your are always stable, focused and thus innovative, which is the key to be successful in any career. As a suggestion to high school kids who are still in their developmental stages and yet to gain experience, I would suggest they should attempt to explore different careers and try to discover their talent and skills and based on that, they should choose their profession. At a community level, we surely have excelled in medical, engineering and law and other professions, but one thing we are lacking is our presence in the Media world. We should encourage our young ones to explore and express in the print, television and other media.
5: Aryeh Leib (Israel), March 17, 2010, 4:28 PM.
Hardeep Singh, I'm with you. It's axiomatic that it makes sense in both the long and short run to go where your unique talents and passion take you; when you love what you do, you'll be good at it - when you're good at what you do, you'll love it that much more. Don't let money play the determining role. The world is filled with people who went into a career for the prestige and/or high salary only to find, years down the line that they hate what they're doing, and the money doesn't even begin to compensate. It would seem to me that those who have the talent for it should be encouraged to become educators for the Sikh community. I humbly suggest learning from the experience of the newly-ascendant Orthodox Jewish community how to be IN a foreign culture - but not OF that culture! It's the best way to guarantee that those big, beautiful gurdwaras now being built will have a new generation of gursikhs to fill them. Gursikhs who can embrace the local society - but, on the Guru's terms. That's where the real future lies ...
6: Gur Singh (Boston, U.S.A.), March 17, 2010, 10:35 PM.
Presence or absence of education of Sikh mothers with the basics of Sikhi, and Sikhi's homogeneous transfer through them, to daughters and sons without any attachment or discrimination based on the gender of kids, can be the game-changer for Sikhi's future.
7: Kartar Singh Bhalla (New Delhi, India), March 18, 2010, 3:04 AM.
Normally, and I repeat, normally, children follow the profession of their parents. There is an inherent advantage in this. Whatever it be, education is the means to a good career. Even if one is destined to inherit his/ her parents' business, he/ she must go in for education in that line. If one casts a look around in India, one finds that the children of captains of business and industry are highly educated - most of them foreign educated, even if the captains of industry were themselves not highly educated. Sikhs have made a mark in whatever line they have gone. I feel happy on seeing a Sikhni or a turbaned Sikh at the top in a company or government or business or sport or profession. It is a matter of great pride for me when I see or read about personalities like Dr. Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Khushwant Singh, Bishan Singh Bedi, Milkha Singh, Advocates Tulsi and Phoolka, Hockey Captain Rajpal Singh ... and so on. In conclusion, please let me say, whatever line a Sikh chooses, he/ she should aspire for the very top as a student and in his/her profession. But true pride will come only if he/she is seen with the full discipline of Sikhi.
8: Harpreet Singh (Amritsar, Punjab), March 18, 2010, 5:08 AM.
Generally, it is seen that parents force their children to follow the same profession in which they already are. An advocate will try his/ her best to make the child an advocate and the same goes with doctors, engineers, etc. I think this trend needs to change if we are to flourish as a community because this trend is present in every community. I am not saying that make your child a full time singer, vocalist or tabalchi but at least allow him/her to follow his/her passion. Let her do the job and earn her living but at the same time encourage her to follow her passion too. Every child is born with some talent.
9: M. Singh (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), March 21, 2010, 6:20 PM.
There is nothing wrong with choosing a profession that provides financial security. I may be inexperienced but I firmly believe that economic wealth is necessary for power and control of your own fate. Regardless of what career you choose, I strongly suggest that young people develop a passion for reading and an ability to think critically. New immigrant families often struggle conveying this message to kids. I myself struggled a lot in basic English literacy and could barely read in grade 8, not because I am dumb but rather because I didn't think it was important at a younger age. As long as you are committed, disciplined and have a positive attitude, you will be successful.
10: Nirmal Singh Nilvi (Texas. U.S.A.), March 22, 2010, 12:46 AM.
As people, we are influenced by reasons as well as by opinions and hearsay (myths) in all endeavours. Guiding a child in his growth and learn to succeed in life is no different. Education is an important tool, not a certificate for success. It is the person that succeeds. Hence, in choosing education, both choosing a line of study and personal development are very important. Reading, inquisitiveness, problem-solving, responsibility for one's actions and consequences, are all critical for personal development. In high school, few know their passion. However, their natural strengths/ weaknesses/ traits become obvious. Parents should help creating awareness of these traits and guide children to pursue more than one field, utilizing his/ her strengths initially in college. They should also stress on learning people skills, work ethics and positive attitude towards work, responsibility and life. These skills empower the child with decision making tools to evaluate and choose a line of study. In selecting a line of work, industry growth, stability and compensation should be the factors to evaluate. As already highlighted, pushing a child into a parent's line of work is a wrong approach, unless a child decides to pursue it at his own initiative. Financial independence ought to be one of the goals, along with a sense of satisfaction in what we decide to do. Knowledge, work ethics, responsive attitude, people skills, confidence and logic-driven decision-making attributes are the key factors that help us succeed, regardless of which line of work we choose. Once you learn to become a steward of your life-ship, other factors fall in place for a successful and well-lived life. Learning to accept failure as a part of human experience, and believing in the grace of Waheguru helps us cope with failure and retain self confidence in such unsettling situations.