Formal education – the only path?

This week I witnessed something disturbing. While I was at a restaurant, I saw a man shouting at his son. Thanks to my friend who speaks the language, I gathered that the man was angry at his son for failing Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).

The man apparently was communicating a message along the lines of, “You have wasted my money. You’re good for nothing. You have embarrassed me.”

It is common for parents to be angry at their kids when they don’t perform well in class. However, discretion has to be taken into account, especially when there is dignity at stake.
In the world today, we have witnessed how formal education has come to be a very important aspect of one’s life. It has come to pass that, without education, one is in for a hard life and a big disappointment.

To some extent, formal education has become the yardstick of man’s worth. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Oxford are just some of the few places that have elevated man’s status.
In many societies, among other things, respect towards a person seems to gravitate more towards those with education, though there are exceptions.

Even the best employment opportunities have come to revolve around the best fruits of formal education. As a result, formal education is triumphing on the back of the supposedly indispensable ability it empowers one with in the fight for employment.

However, I see formal education neglecting other non-mainstream fields present in society. This is especially true in developing countries where business, science, law and others have been the only fields of specialisation.

In reality our societies have more than just these. We have painters, singers, dancers, actors, and so forth. These have been largely forgotten or put on the back seat, with many disregarding their value and importance.

However, I would say this phenomenon is much more rampant in developing nations compared to developed ones. There is always a fear that parents might reject one’s decision to pursue these fields.
There’s also a pervasive feeling that these fields do not require one to attend classes since they involve inborn talent or hobbies. For example, some of the best singers in the past and today are school dropouts or never attended school altogether. For one, Michael Jackson never attended college.

Having said that, I would also like to recognise other artistes who were never school dropouts.
Moving ahead, I think the problem is the fact that singing, dancing, painting and other related professions have become more of hobbies to a lot of people, thus in the process marginalising their importance as independent professions.

As a result, these areas have lacked some sense of professionalism in the eyes of certain people where being a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer reign as more professional fields.
I don’t know the view of the performing arts in Malaysia, but in certain developing countries they have come to be ranked lower than other professions. There is a stigma towards being a singer, dancer or an actor.

For many, it seems as if these are those who failed biology and physics, although I am of a different opinion.

Due to all this, these professions have lacked a sense of direction when it comes to employability and I guess this is where the fears of many parents come in.
So one might be correct to say that formal education has contributed largely to the crumble of these fields since it has cast so much light on the mainstream faculties and thus cast a shadow on arts fields.

I sympathise with all the students who are taking subjects that they do not have an interest in and whose interests don’t fall under the mainstream faculties of education.
I understand the push of parents for their kids to take engineering, law or other fields since they have been known to provide high-paying jobs and stability.
However, I would also say, happiness is much more important than the grandiose professions we’re all chasing after. Parents should have the sensitivity to listen to their kids’ interests and see what they can do about them.

Some of your kids’ interests might not lie in the mainstream pool of interests, however, that doesn’t mean anything bad. It just means they’re different and unique.

Picasso, when sent to the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid in 1897, quit soon after enrolment as he disliked formal education. I wonder what would have happened if he was subjected to do what he was told; probably we wouldn’t have had him.

If Joe Jackson forced his son Michael to attend Harvard University to study law, can we imagine what would have happened to moonwalking, Thriller, and all the history that would’ve been lost on the way?

Siti Nurhaliza and Ning Baizura are two of the amazing songbirds of Malaysia. Singing is their passion. It would have been a detriment if they were forced to become anything else.
Parents should learn the hard way of channelling their kids’ lives towards the direction of their passion and dream, since it’s more likely they will be happy pursuing those fields.
The writer can be contacted via stephencollin86@gmail. com.


Borneo Post by Stephen Collins
March 28, 2010, Sunday