The parents are a part of the problem

It is incredible that in the Sri Lankan family, children are loved and spoilt and then sacrifices are made to send children to distant prestigious schools, but parents lack the skills to instill moral and life skills on their children. After this expensive education, youth are completely lost not knowing how to find a suitable course for their skill and financial level, as well as a direction in which to study, without any knowledge of what they would like to do once they have achieved this goal.

The parents merely believe that the financial sacrifice is sufficient and that their time in trying to understand the unique set of problems their offspring face, is not forthcoming. It was particularly apparent recently when 3000 students went to the Human Rights Commission in Sri Lanka to protest at the unfair treatment meted out from the Z score fiasco, which was orchestrated as part of a Facebook campaign, with hardly a parent in sight to help them. This after an expensive education, whose results were what the dispute was about.

I am constantly faced with advising young people in their twenties about the options available to them, and realize that only if their parents in the formative years of the kids from say 12 to 18 gave them some direction and interest in some area, they could then pursue that particular course of study without coming to their mid 20s and look around for anything available not knowing what is possible and practical. Young people are not practical, as their demands are not congruent with their abilities. When they are offered jobs in keeping with what they can do, they are disappointed and upset that a better alternative is not forthcoming.

The parents owe it to their offspring to understand what is going on in their lives, rather than say the youth of today are different, they cannot understand their desired and then give up. The classic case being the Z score fiasco referred to.

It was important for parents to come for their children’s support. That would have moved the government to action and not delayed for 6 months. The parents by their very inaction gave the Government a breather to take their time over finding a resolution which is still not forthcoming. The students have suffered immensely due to the delay. The parents’ inaction cost their kids’ time money and possibly their future. It is as if they have run the race but stopped a few meters before the finish line and left their children in a state of limbo, without the final small push to put them over the edge. It is important that the students explain to their parents that their inaction has cost them, and that the cost of their education is wasted by this inability to comprehend the z score issue comprehensively to assist their wards.

Congratulations Kumar Sangakkara for being shortlisted for all main awards

ICC AWARDS 2012

Kumar Sangakkara, the wicket-keeper batsman of the Sri Lankan squad is the only person who has been nominated for the main ICC awards 2012 to be announced on 15^th September 2012. The nominations are for ICC Cricketer of the Year, ICC Test Cricketer of the Year and ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year.

This is a singular honor for the Country and for Kumar Sangakkara himself who has excelled himself in all departments as the nominations are from elite professionals who are aware either former players, members of the media, representatives of the ICC panel of umpires and match referees.

This means that in the overall context of Cricket, Test cricket and One Day Cricket Sanga has outshone in all departments of the game from behavior to performance. In the history of Cricket no person has received all these nominations in one go, and in one year, as he has already received nominations in the past on different departments in previous years.

There is a severe absence of compliments from anyone instrumental in Sri Lanka Cricket or in Politics for this achievement and this smacks of a lack of respect for his independence and his outspokenness in the interests of the Cricket.

I know that he does not really want respect from those least qualified to give it to him, but I just wish to point out the irony in this respect as we have pontificators for the interests of cricket, but when we have achievers in this game they do not receive the kudos from the ‘pontificators’

It is important that youth have a role model, with values, that can be shown as ones to be emulated by young people. Sri Lanka is badly in need of sufficient number of such role models. We must encourage them and give them a chance to speak to the youth and get them involved in useful activities that will help their leadership qualities and empower them as future leaders of Sri Lanka.

Z score – a dirty word that doesn’t go away, is the bane of all who confront it

This method was introduced a few years ago to kill two birds with one stone. One was to restrict entry into the University as there are only places for 15% or less of those who sit A level exams. The second was to arrive at a different cut off mark for districts so that there is a fair representation across the country. This simple concept that translated into an incomprehensible statistical figure, determined the fate of many a young man or woman in Sri Lanka, especially as it related to educated youth who wished to get a degree and rise up the greasy pole of employment. The two criteria were acted on by using the ubiquitous cut off mark known as the Z score that determined who got in and who is left out!

What it did mean is that even if one had 3 A’s at A levels, one was not certain of getting into the University of your choice or any at all, if there were thousands ahead of one in the district. This happened this time round to an even greater extent. It must be remembered that 60% of schools only offer 3 subjects at A level, for which there is a reasonable carder of teacher, namely, Sinhala, Buddhist Civilization and Political Science. The problem is that even in the Kegalle District, I know for a fact that if you had 3 A’s in these subjects your District rank could be as high as 1000 meaning that in that subject stream that there are over a thousand with higher marks, and therefore the cut off to university could be up to rank 500. In theory there would be over 500 students who have achieved 3 As at A levels and could not obtain entrance into the University system.

The expectation of students and parents are then shattered as the value assigned to an A in these subjects is diminished and due to the use of standard deviations when a high population achieves high marks, the Z score could be low!

The dilemma is hard to comprehend. So it MUST be made clear to students following such subjects that even A grades are not sufficient to gain entry into University and it depends on how high the mark is for them to come within the space allocation.

It is important that these myths are quickly extinguished, and students led into courses that are needed and for which places are available, and not to ones that are tough to enter due to the supply which exceeds the places as in the case for these Arts and Social Sciences Courses. In my view the subjects referred to above should be drastically cut, as students following them have no chance whatsoever of entering University with them, and parents MUST be informed about it well in advance of disappointments, especially at the point they are chosen.

The challenge facing Youth – clueless about how to land a job

The incessant stream of CV from young people ranging from 18 to 28 for jobs ANY JOBS is a heart wrenching cry for independence by desperate youth who want a living wage. Fortunately for them, they live at home and have no great rush to get into the job market, so they are picky and want jobs that are not out there.

Little do they realize that the most important point in employment is the record of consistent work at one place however low the wages are and however tough the conditions. You cannot buy your way into a record of work. You have work it, earn it , and live it. Our young people just do not understand that. So when jobs are offered, they are refused, as that is not the type of job they were hoping to get!

On the one hand they are pleading with me for a job, any job, and on the other hand when I place them somewhere in an area where there is great potential, they say it is not up their street. It is this dilemma that I have to deal with, and I am frustrated because when I direct youth into areas where there is potential for the quick rewards they are looking for, they do not wish to pursue, as it involves a little effort! I had a person come into the office this week saying that they are looking for youth with a good personality to train as insurance salesman, who will be selling the pension product of a particular insurance company, and depending on the success of getting people to buy into the policies, could in 3 months be earning close of Rs50,000 a month. Even an A level is not necessary.

I contacted numerous on my database of youth looking for jobs, and even without going through their free, one day leadership seminar, to learn about the products and about themselves, they declined, saying it is not up their street. The latter thought is suspect as I know they do not really know what the job entails, and at least they should try and find out by attending the events laid on for prospective recruits. Word of mouth of hearsay is simply not sufficient for them to make up their minds that those jobs are not good. While I am willing to admit that it will attract a certain dedicated individual with congruent life goals, it is nevertheless important to attend the seminars to determine one’s aptitude for such jobs.

I appeal to young people not to have preconceived notions of what employment is and to simply take anything they can get their hands on and with the experience one gains in any employment the maturity that one gets will enable one to know exactly what one wants and then take the necessary steps to achieve those goals. Without the initial work experience to gain the practice of getting to work on time, and showing consistent timely attendance it is impossible to show one can hold on to a job and perform, despite the obstacles most jobs place on one.

Are you fickle? They don’t even know what it means as it is considered normal!

In contemporary Sri Lanka, the word of a young person is as good as hot air, only around for a few seconds. They are the most unreliable segment of the population and in organizing youth activities one has to be cognizant of this fact if one is to keep sane. There is a way to tackle this situation, as it has to be of use to the person concerned. There is just no point in getting them to do any favors for anyone, unlike in the past where they performed out of duty or obligation. Today there is no duty or obligation. Those words just do not matter in a world of greed and opportunism, and the Youth have mastered this faster than any other segment of the population. Is it any wonder why older people today just frown upon the young as having no ethics, morals or a sense of duty? To young people of today anyone older than themselves is just a fuddy duddy not worth their time, unless of course they can get some personal and not communal benefit out of them.

In a sense one has to take the law of probabilities a little more seriously in one’s dealing them, especially male, as females are still a little more dependable and reliable and are also more responsible when tasks are assigned to them.

When young people are fickle there is a method to exploit this behavior by informing them that they missed out on a glorious stroke of good fortune as they were not able to take advantage, by their absence. There is nothing more penetrating to a psyche than being told that your unreliability cost you big.

In my experience I know when I invite 100 youth to an event, the number who actually say they will come and turn up is under 50%. One therefore has to take that into account when doing this type of invitation. When there is nothing but an obligation with little perceived benefit to them, then the take up rate is less than 25%. When one takes account of these factors and operate under that, it is easier to organize events and make guesstimations.

This when added to the Sri Lankan inability to say no to one’s face, the presence of the probability factor plays a huge part in the expected turnout. The threat of eviction from a program and one’s rights being suspended are other means by which one gets a better rate of attendance especially at events that are important, and the participation of the particular young person is too. The showing of one’s face to say they turned up is one of the most annoying characteristics of youth as they do it for no other purpose, but not to lose out on any benefit allocated to the presence. The handing out of certificates of participation at the end is a suggestion to this thorny and sensitive issue, as expectations are nevertheless high.

Where are the Parents? – Part 2 – Displaying total ignorance!

In an earlier blog entry, I was castigating the parents for not coming to many open fora, and demonstrations that have taken place in defense of the students who have suffered as a result of the Z score crisis, that has yet to be resolved, when the Government is particularly mired in a swamp of its own making, due mostly to the ignorance of their leadership of what it all means, and how it must be resolved.

In my view parents who spend a small fortune to educate their children in the state sector despite the supposedly free education system (here I do not wish to encompass the sacrifice of parents who send their children to the international sector) seem to have dropped out of the picture as in the needed pressure on the government to address the plight of the kids, who find themselves thoroughly confused when their Z scores and district rankings, which have taken a huge turn for the worse between the results published on 25^th December 2011 and the revised ones published for the same exam on June 25^th 2012!!

Where are the parents? I ask this time and again. They must follow through on their investment, otherwise their sacrifice is completely in vain. They must be at the forefront of demonstration outside Temple Trees, as otherwise there will be no action on the part of the President. Let us remember in Sri Lanka that all corrective action only originates from the President’s office as all the Ministers in Government are mere puppets with no teeth to take any action, unless sanctioned by the ruler himself.

The parents owe it to themselves to take the bull by the horns, form a team and be visible; hold a vigil outside of Temple Trees. Kids who agitate are generally taken for a hike, as they are all misinterpreted as JVP pawns. Their demonstration does not help anyone. So if the MOMS AND DADS come out to demonstrate it will definitely be far more effective. It is in their self interests as their sons and daughters are bound to tell them once they bring out the cost of education to their charges, that they were not there for them “when it truly mattered.”

I know that parents are completely ignorant about Z scores just like most of us in Sri Lanka. That by the way is NO excuse not to do anything about it. You giving up on your biggest investment in your life without a whimper and you are permitting the state to ride roughshod over you like a roller to flatten you and take every breath out of you, in this complacent and uncaring way. Rise up before it is too late and stand up for injustice, as that is what it truly is, before your very inaction is taken by the state for tacit approval of their policies and actions.

Z score has taken an unimaginable mental toll on August 2011 and August 2012, ‘A’ level students and their parents and families

That is at least 500,000 students and at least 1 million parents. It is not a simple issue. All these people and future A level students will have concerns about the reliability, credibility and dependability of this method of apportioning a number, which will be used in District cut offs for entry into University in the State System in Sri Lanka. Due to this loss of faith, there appears to be no other option but to the scrap system completely and come up with a different and hopefully more sensible and understandable basis of University Entry. There is just NO other choice.

To add to these woes, the A level exams currently being conducted Islandwide have brought into focus, how fraught with errors they are and further erodes the faith the people have in the Sri Lanka A levels. Add to that the time from O levels to University entrance is now 4 years at least, whereas through the international system with the British GCSE and A levels it is only 2 which means that with international 3 year degrees, International school based kids can graduate at least 3 years ahead of Sri Lankan School’s University kids. So paying Rs 2 to 3 Million to get a head start of 3 years in life seems a cheap price to pay if you got the dough. You can then get 3 years overseas experience and recoup the costs by the time the Sri Lankan student graduates to find that there are no jobs available to him, except the Rs10,000 month stipend the Rajapakse Govt. is cheating graduates with to go to the District Secretariat offices to sign on once a week, as even these offices do not have a place for these so called temporary hired to sit.

This all begs the question of our shortchanging and in short fooling our students in the state education system dashing all their hopes and aspirations because we have not been able to organize a simple set of rules to ensure that youth have expectations that can be fulfilled.

It is important that there is immediate action taken to correct the situation before it gets worse. The breakdown of the state education system, is tantamount to the govt. abrogating its basic responsibilities towards the youth of Sri Lanka. The fact that the citizens of Sri Lanka fail to understand what is happening under their very noses is indicative of the ignorance of our people about what it important. On the one hand the parents sacrifice everything to give their children a good education, but they fail to realize that all that sacrifice is in vain, as the products of the state educations system fail miserably in their ability to gain employment and waste an inordinate amount of time of their youth in farting around, and not being productive, without them, the students, realizing this very essence.