During the Christmas Season of 1979, I came to understand what being a college dropout truly means. I was enjoying the hospitality of a Christian family in Dade City, Florida, over nearly two weeks. My host and his family, to whom I was a stranger from a foreign land, were most gracious. The head of the family was in the business of house building, quite well established and profiting from what appeared to be a successful business – a big house, a small orange orchard, a couple of cars, a leader in the community and his church and such. He might have been in his late 40s or early 50s.
But, he was a college dropout. How did he, then, come to be that successful? He had worked at many other jobs, including being an insurance salesman (of all things!), a licensed pilot of small aircraft (he took me on a four-seater and did the real roller-coaster dipsy-doodle, and scared the hell out of me), and a few other odd jobs before settling on house building. And, he was a college dropout.
Shift the timeframe to the noughties of the 21st century and to India, specifically to the Hindi movie Nayak, starring Anil Kapoor, Amrish Puri and Rani Mukherjee. The one dialogue (paraphrased here) that fits the topic of the post is: “You may even be the government but you are not a government employee. So, no question of my daughter becoming your wife!” What was left unsaid was, “You are a college graduate and all that, but no steady income, guaranteed employment and retirement benefits; request denied.”
Within the contrasting situations above one can locate the drastically different meaning the phrase “college dropout” carries in the US vis-à-vis India. Edward Snowden is a high school dropout, I believe. But, he could afford a reasonable lifestyle. Aaron Swartz did not finish college but was, even if only briefly, a millionaire. Steve Jobs obtained no regular college degrees, only honorary ones. Of course, sitting atop college dropouts is Bill Gates. And somewhere on the pyramid, one can locate my Florida host. Lack of a formal degree did not prevent them being successful agents of the US economy.
Can we say this about someone in India who is not a politician, sportsman, in the show business, or born with a silver smooth in his mouth? Not many, I am sure. Will we be able to trace this state of affairs to anything in the past? I do not know and I demur from speculating.
Please do not misunderstand me – I am not saying there are no rags to riches story in India; after all, it is not too long ago we had the edifying instance of a migrant auto-rickshaw driver’s daughter topping a nationwide competitive exam that opened up a world of opportunities for her. The point to note is that story weaved its way through education, formal education and performance in those exams. The success story does not stray beyond the rigid philosophy of success-through-education and this philosophy inexorably gets ratcheted up.
If successful completion of high school was OK a few generations ago, the threshold upgraded itself to college degrees, to professional degrees, to post-graduate degrees. You would be hard put to find anyone satisfied with a mere B.A or B.Sc. You need an MBA trailing your name, to get a foot in the door of a business house.
I believe this points to two things. One, we need certificates. You don’t go nowhere without them darned things. Two, our economy is straitjacketed and risk averse. Economic opportunities do not open up or flower as freely as in the seemingly less risk-averse America. At the age of 25 one needs to think of life after retirement. No wonder the father of the heroine in Nayak put his foot down against marrying off his daughter to someone without a government job.
This also shows how my host pulled himself up within the framework of the US economy. I am sure he was prudent in his risk taking and showed shrewd enterprise every step of the way. But, the point to underscore is he took risks. He did not have the backstop of a college-degree, yet he made it.
And, that is difference between an American college dropout and an Indian one.
Raghuram Ekambaram
But, he was a college dropout. How did he, then, come to be that successful? He had worked at many other jobs, including being an insurance salesman (of all things!), a licensed pilot of small aircraft (he took me on a four-seater and did the real roller-coaster dipsy-doodle, and scared the hell out of me), and a few other odd jobs before settling on house building. And, he was a college dropout.
Shift the timeframe to the noughties of the 21st century and to India, specifically to the Hindi movie Nayak, starring Anil Kapoor, Amrish Puri and Rani Mukherjee. The one dialogue (paraphrased here) that fits the topic of the post is: “You may even be the government but you are not a government employee. So, no question of my daughter becoming your wife!” What was left unsaid was, “You are a college graduate and all that, but no steady income, guaranteed employment and retirement benefits; request denied.”
Within the contrasting situations above one can locate the drastically different meaning the phrase “college dropout” carries in the US vis-à-vis India. Edward Snowden is a high school dropout, I believe. But, he could afford a reasonable lifestyle. Aaron Swartz did not finish college but was, even if only briefly, a millionaire. Steve Jobs obtained no regular college degrees, only honorary ones. Of course, sitting atop college dropouts is Bill Gates. And somewhere on the pyramid, one can locate my Florida host. Lack of a formal degree did not prevent them being successful agents of the US economy.
Can we say this about someone in India who is not a politician, sportsman, in the show business, or born with a silver smooth in his mouth? Not many, I am sure. Will we be able to trace this state of affairs to anything in the past? I do not know and I demur from speculating.
Please do not misunderstand me – I am not saying there are no rags to riches story in India; after all, it is not too long ago we had the edifying instance of a migrant auto-rickshaw driver’s daughter topping a nationwide competitive exam that opened up a world of opportunities for her. The point to note is that story weaved its way through education, formal education and performance in those exams. The success story does not stray beyond the rigid philosophy of success-through-education and this philosophy inexorably gets ratcheted up.
If successful completion of high school was OK a few generations ago, the threshold upgraded itself to college degrees, to professional degrees, to post-graduate degrees. You would be hard put to find anyone satisfied with a mere B.A or B.Sc. You need an MBA trailing your name, to get a foot in the door of a business house.
I believe this points to two things. One, we need certificates. You don’t go nowhere without them darned things. Two, our economy is straitjacketed and risk averse. Economic opportunities do not open up or flower as freely as in the seemingly less risk-averse America. At the age of 25 one needs to think of life after retirement. No wonder the father of the heroine in Nayak put his foot down against marrying off his daughter to someone without a government job.
This also shows how my host pulled himself up within the framework of the US economy. I am sure he was prudent in his risk taking and showed shrewd enterprise every step of the way. But, the point to underscore is he took risks. He did not have the backstop of a college-degree, yet he made it.
And, that is difference between an American college dropout and an Indian one.
Raghuram Ekambaram
2 comments:
What should really matter is the ability (skill) to do something rather than the certificate. Plus the opportunity to make use of your skill. India cannot provide the opportunity and hence demands certificates in order to filter out people. And people without certificates (but with real skills) get disqualified! See how we have made even carpentry a certified course... There's so much to be written on this. Thanks for highlighting the issue.
It is also a matter of valuing a certificate too highly, Matheikal. This bloated valuation is needed because society values any profession / task exclsuively by the end product, ignoring all the steps and the incremental value additions that each step brings. It is all or nothing. Why can't a high school pass not be an agent of the economy? Because his product is not valued by society, at any level. So, why would anyone stop at high school level, unless extraneous circumstances forces one to? As you would agree, all these issues are intractably intertwined. It is a spider web.
Thanks.
RE
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