Education

It hit me recently. I'm 28 and I have  something like 5 years of work experience. Considering I remember pretty much as many major things and events from the third year of my life, as I do from the year before last, and I could walk way before the first set of memories, I could have made myself useful long back. So what was I doing for 20 years or more than two thirds of my life ?

Getting educated, that's what. Initially coming to par with the cumulative learning of mankind since the stone age, later being brought uptodate with the cumulative learning of humanity in a specific field 'of my choice'.

I don't know about you, but I feel cheated. The human body physically peaks at like 21. What was I doing ? Had just finished my first round of education. Life had pretty much passed me by while I was being 'educated' in my protected little shell. And the regret is in spite of the feeling that I got pretty much everything I could, intellectually, out of the system. I know plenty who aren't as lucky.

To bring some balance to the paradigm, let me clarify, I really value the world view and understanding I have as a result of education.

Somehow I think the education system has been designed with a hundred year life span in mind. Most of us lead a useful life probably till sixty five. There are always exceptions, but that is a different discussion.

Working with the same percentage, the education needs to be crunched into 12 years, instead of 18. Masters of course may take a year and a half, when appropriate. The rubber needs to meet the road a lot earlier in life.
Innocence is overrated. We need to make the learning curve steeper. And trim the fat from the syllabus. Every thing superfluous needs to be on a 'want to know' basis, to be learnt on your own time, if that's what you'd rather be doing.

I appreciate the American model in this respect. There is a concept of a summer job, where one does a little work, makes a little money. Any one with an entrepreneurial mind set is likely to find their inspiration early in life when the price of failure is practically nil. Young people get a lot more time and perspective to allow them to decide what their calling in life is. That is why American universities produce fewer drones by percentage (excluding the indian population of choose) than Indian universities.We typically keep running down the path of least resistance, the lucky ones till they die, the unlucky ones, till they hit a wall.

Incidentally indians spend their summers playing cricket, reading or doing their summer homework, depending on what combination of parental and educational setup they're in.

And while we're at it making lives more productive, we should pull in the driving age limit as well. There is a test for the license, not like marriage where coming to a certain age automatically makes you eligible to get married.  So if a 10 year old boy can drive better than a 40 year woman, he should be allowed to. They do it anyway. I think the only logic behind the 18 year rule is that it eliminates the section from the rule book, about what to do when a kid breaks a traffic rule.

What say ?

Rage against

Rage against the machine,
Is what I think I feel.
Want to take it apart,
Gear from greasy gear.
Smash in the face,
Kick in the balls,
Of those who feel
Fit to judge me.

Can't remember a free existence,
Believe I am dependent.
On this setup which is
Anything but symbiotic.
Renounced self respect,
Sacrificed dignity,
Traded in pride,
To partake of this derisory lie.

Have been embedded,
so deep into the entrails,
Every breath laced
With poison fumes.
All that is left now,
Are canned dreams,
A pale, mocking shadow,
Of what might have been.

What have I become ?

Rage against the machine,
Is what I think I feel.
Want to take it apart,
Gear from greasy gear.
Take a step back,
Take a deep breath,
Want to start the slaughter,
But now it all makes sense.

The machine sucks hard,
But wasn't I the one,
Who tried and broke in?
I now know the rage,
Is rage against myself.
Because everyone can hear,
In spite of the noise.
And like it or not,
Every one has a choice.

Destiny II

Let me tell you a story about destiny. 
It started off really weird. Just your regular day. Early rise. Long run to clear the damn head. Silly breakfast before eat fast eat. Last meal for 24  hours. Was headed out to catch the drop to work when it happened. Saw a door to my right I'd never seen before. Weird. The cab driver was honking like his pension depended on it. But I had to take a minute to figure out this door. Never saw it, really?

Well curiosity killed the cat. But given my life, I take my chances. Too dark to see anything, so I walked in. Just the one step. Because then I fell. For just about as long as I'd lived. Or so it felt. Landed in a glass capsule. With a  15 person audience. In weird clothes. Minimal but uber stylish. Like we had got over our stupid hangups, and clothes we're just covering as much as they should.

And they got to business immediately. I was pulled out and stood up. And told it was all a big mistake. The portal had appeared due to a technical glitch. I must head back.

Will do, I say, but at least tell me what the hell is happening. Alrightey then. They start.

It is the same world, same place. But it is post apocalyptic. We've learnt to value our resources and human life. So as a prophet had advised, everyone was subject to a coming of age ritual, if we may call it so.

At the opportune moment, you would be shown your future, your destiny, to enable you to work with the destiny in mind. What better way  to motivate an action than a guaranteed outcome. You would power past the little glitches, and get up everytime you fell. Everyone would hence be able to achieve greatness and the world would achieve greatness as a result of the cumulative greatness.

There was a catch as always. The futures were previewed. The ones which were judged to be unfavorable, were rooted out of the time line. The owners of the unsightly future were banished to a parallel setup, on a different planet. Wiped from every memory, and their own memory replaced with a convenient backstory. It was self sustaining, and kept out the under achievers.

It became evident to me which lot I'd been in.

Then I was apologized to. Saying it was a rather unfortunate phase in the history of the world. But what was done was done and had to be left that way. So I must head back.

It was all a dream as far as I was concerned, so, that I had been discarded by society at large didn't bother me too much. But why a seemingly fabulous plan didn't really pan out as expected was bothering me.

It turns out that the promise of a bright future makes as many people complacent as it makes hard working. And even in the lot who are hard working, there is a predetermined cap on what they can achieve, since the targets are already set. No reaching for the stars. All in all, the world of out castes was doing as well if not better. And as the inevitable happened and the secrecy around the promised future deal wore off, a huge public uproar ousted the men in charge, and things went back to normal...

So much for that eh ?

Well I was promptly shipped back, memory intact and found myself mid step walking towards the cab. I stumbled, but caught my step again, and took my regular place in the cab.

Hey, just because I'm free to reach for the stars, doesn't mean I have to.