Fluctuations in the Educated Niche
Bryan Adams was in Karachi!!!LOL....Wow, was it absolutely amazing! I promise I'll get to the relation to education in this post very soon, but it was so good to see an international musician in a country which is supposedly a high danger zone. The beauty of this is that he arrived on the same day a warning was issued to Americans against traveling to Pakistan! Three cheers to Mr. Adams for breaking the chains of taboo and acknowledging that music is the universal language!
Now, the tickets were expensive...they had to be, it was a charity concert, and inevitably it attracted an educated niche of Karachiites...those who could afford to pay the odd Rs. 3000 for a few hours. And wow, were they all well behaved! That's a rare sight for our country! No fights with each other or the guards. The security was great - it
didn't feel like we were entering a war zone. It was very difficult to believe that we were still in Karachi...we just might have been in Kansas! And the crowd was responding brilliantly to him...singing right on time and on key.
So why the
fluctuation of the educated niche? If you've had the pleasure of attending other concerts in Karachi know that a
smooth event is a rarity...educated niche or not. One
expects the privileged educated to be setting a model for others, however this is rarely the case. The educated ones are often those who possess the most ego, who will be the first to protest if searched because no one has 'the right' to question them. Not to say that they are the
only ones who act this way, but a great deal of them do.
However, this was not the case at the Bryan Adams concert. Everyone was so well behaved. My only question to all of us out there...why must we be on our best behavior
only for others and not ourselves? Do we as a city not deserve a night as good as the Rock for a Cause? We've proven ourselves to be a great city full of beautiful people...Please, lets do this for our own benefit as well.
Intellectual Ignorance
I was enlightened by a wise man in class yesterday that there are 4 assets any country possess, the development of which is safeguarded by the respective authorities:
1. Geographical - Protected by the armed forces
2. Economic - Protected by the bankers
3. Political - Protected by the government
2. Intellectual - Protected by the teachers
Think that teachers would ever come in the same sentence as armed forces, bankers, and government? Not Often. But really, think about it. The strength of any organization lies within the employees and their commitment to work; the strength of any country lies within the people and their commitment to a better life. The knowledge of what that better life is and how to get their is disseminated by who? The teachers!
But that's not really the scenario right now. Within the schools of most countries students are encouraged about one thing: GRADES. Most third world countries are better than they were 20 years ago, by way of infrastructure. But the intellect of the people...the public....has gone down. Many may beg to differ to this statement. But then we must delve into the meaning of
intellect. What does intellect mean? The most straight forward definition is:
The capacity for rational or intelligent thought
Simple enough. So, does that mean that rational or intelligent thought is proven by getting an A in various subjects? To a certain extent. But what about something like intelligently realizing that littering is wrong because rationally it will be bad for you and those around you? Or that intelligently understanding that crossing a red light is dangerous because rationally nothings going to happen if you get somewhere a minute late and that you might die or be seriously injured in the process?
Simply concepts. Hardly followed. Rarely taught.
So when one says that developing the intellectual resource of a country helps in the country advancing to a better state, one must realize that this also realize that this involves good civic sense and developing a student as a whole, well rounded person.
Children are the hopes and future of a country. Hopes and futures are not built upon A grades. It takes a lot more than that.
