'Was I made to be an employee?' Article + Video

‘Was I made to be an employee?'

‘Our current education system produces employees, and not employers’. ‘Our current education system encourages systematic, organised, workers, not critical thinkers’. ‘Our current education system, if continued, is projected to fail our future generations’.

‘Our current education system is not equipped with producing future leaders’.

I’ve heard many critics of our education system. But today, let’s focus on the criticism that our educational system produces and pumps out employees, and employees only’.

I’ve seen videos and articles talking about how our education system produces employees. This is my idea plated on the now full table. Let’s first talk about the culture of education.

Culture

I think a big contributing factor to the products of employees from the factory of education is the culture of it - not the culture of the education system itself, but the prevailing culture of education, especially here in Malaysia and in other eastern countries.

There is this concept that ‘Better education = higher guarantee of a safer, better paying job’.

This has been subtly, or less subtly, implied many-times for students around the world.

Let me introduce the board game of education. (You’re going to have to visualise this one, buddy)

You see the end of the board game, the winners of it all have a great lifestyle - comfortable one, at least. And you’ll see their trace of successes, leading back, always, to their effort in the education they had.

There’s a reason why we are rewarded when we get good grades, or, as we could frame it for the sake of this, the ‘bait’ the educational system gives us for doing well in it.

It is imperative that we do well in exams, we get sorted into different paced classes for how well we do overall in the subjects we take; we get rewarded by a numbered ranking or by a percentage in our reports if we do well. This all feeds into the comfort higher/better education brings us.

Being in school and doing well in school makes you comfortable. As we have touched upon prior on the importance of education that is projected onto our students everyday, creating a lasting impression, or rather, mentality, towards education. Students are left with the impression that doing well in school has a direct correlation with a better lifestyle in the future, with better standards of living, and some may even falsely internalise the implication that better exam results/doing well in school equates to higher levels of happiness or contentment.

Being in school and doing well in school makes you comfortable. This perpetuating cycle of good grades in exam results as a backboard of comfort for students plays into the comfort of tagging along wherever the culture of education leads you to. Why would you go against the current of education when it has proved to reward you for playing into it?

This concept happens so much so that when it comes to careers, the culture of education plays its cards again and encourages students to choose the path of employment. However, it is important to note that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being under employment. The following is purely to do with how our education system plays into the decision of employment for many students, but has no relation with the goods/bads of employment.

So, why is employment the expected path? The culture of education in many countries has built that foundation of comfort within students that they are now prone to stray the furthest lane away from anything that risks their comfort. Education builds a foundation of comfort, the comfort of knowing you are financially stable or the comfort of being far away from the risk of being bankrupt. It’s this comfort that urges students to opt for employment instead of working under themselves when choosing careers because the risk of failing is too uncomfortable for them. Remember, this comfort has been built, emphasised, and reinstated through the many early years of life - during the important formative years when mentalities are built and opinions are strengthened, often through the validation of others. This comfort has been built, emphasised, and reinstated in an institution that students put their trust in, in an institution occupied by figures they look up to or even idolise. This builts the extreme of comfort so much so that students can only limp without it.

So the culture of education in communities like these leads to the impression or idea that a better student will simply become a better adult.

But to know why this is the case, why the culture of education is as such, let’s look into the goals of education.

"After all, why would you go against the current of education when it has proved to reward you for playing into it?"

Goals of education

Now by far, education provides valuable knowledge and know-how for skills that are useful throughout your life. Ultimately though, I believe many people go into education wanting to come out at a higher level of the social ladder than they were coming in.

I’ll share a story that I’ve been told many, many times before. Hence, as such, has internalised and therefore is the reason why I, too, put in my best efforts for school.

My great-grandmother was an immigrant from Guangdong, China. She was a washerwoman, so you can assume that to be on the lower end of society’s ladder. My grandfather worked his arse off through this sheer determination to become the first in the family to pursue university level education. By the means of education, he moved up the social ladder to be a high school teacher - (he’s an amazing Additional Mathematics teacher and he makes trigonometry, integration and kinematics...understandable!) Identifying that education was the only instrument he had to ascend through the social ladder, the importance of education and doing well in education was emphasised strongly through my father’s childhood as well.

The concept of social mobility was only realisable for them through the instrument of education. Hmm, let me rephrase, doing well in education.

And so this helps to visualise why so many people put so much value in doing well in education. Education was their only means of a chance at social mobility, and so, should be taken seriously by their children.

But you must understand that, at that level, you would crave the comfort of stability. It was not the time to ponder on the idea of a business, especially when it risks being less well off then you were before. So, now we understand why education means so much to them, but HOW does education bring about this change?

"The concept of social mobility was only realisable for them through the instrument of education."

Education - How does it provide a similar starting line for students?

By my very definition of education, beyond the knowledge I get from it, is that it provides the similar starting line for all students, no matter their background or demographic. Or, at least, it tries.

I do acknowledge the presence of private education. To an extent, people with more resources would be able to play their hand in using these resources for an advantage in education. However, education, to an extent, provides some form of neutralisation for students across different backgrounds.

Education provides a jumping board for all students, and in the case of those less well off, one that allows your efforts within your education to determine how much energy you use to push off that board.

At a platform where they are given +- equal chances of succeeding, it only makes sense that they play their cards into devoting their efforts into doing well within the education system, no?

Simple as that, really.

"By my very definition of education, beyond the knowledge I get from it, is that it provides the similar starting line for all students, one that allows your efforts within your education to determine how much energy you use to push off that board."

Final conclusion, or is it?

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t try hard in school. Putting in your best efforts reflects onto your determination and drive to succeed at whatever is handed to you.

I’m not encouraging you to start something of your own or work for yourself either if you don’t have the know-how and resources for it.

But, what I am offering is an alternative interpretation of education. Does it really have to be one that only encourages a certain path but discourages another? There’s no conclusion into what constitutes the perfect educational system. What this video will provide is not a conclusion. This video is merely a compilation of my thoughts I had at 11.50am in the morning of the 4th day of the 6th month of the 2021th year of human existence. (or whenever they started counting years)

It is by no means the best thought-out essay that is out there on the topic of education. I thought about this in the morning, and the morning only. So, there is definitely room for development of these thoughts.

However, I hoped that by penning down my thoughts, anyone watching this would be left with food for thought. You now have my perspective on education. I encourage you to read this as impartial as possible, filtering through any bias this piece might have, and challenge your interpretation of education.

Are we made to be employees?

That was my perspective on education, what’s yours?

Instagram: @theyoungpeoplesfinance

P.S. In my quest of productive procrastination, I filmed a video of me talking about this! You can check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djXEphGlO70

https://youtu.be/djXEphGlO70 See you next time!

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