My memory immediately drifts to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) a 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It speaks of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures.
The conversation between Alice and the Cheshire cat particularly interests me. Alice is confused. She asks the cat “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
I think this is what most young people go through, as they pass out from the portals of educational institutions. They hold a certificate in hand but stand at crossroads not knowing which way to go. All education is futile if it doesn’t shape your moral character, equip you with life-coping skills and give you adeptness at decision making.
Principals, mangers and correspondents of educational institutions need to realize that life is beyond the textbook and the school of life begins when you leave the classroom.
Stress-levels among young graduates and undergraduates are escalating by the hour. The news portals are full of stories of highly qualified young people who cannot handle life. Suicides, job-hopping, hi-fi pro-luxury living and less saving are only some of the many stories hitting headlines. We cannot feign ignorance of news of highly trained and educated young people who end their lives tragically.
The indecisiveness about career-planning and incapacity in life-coping skills is all too evident in young people educated in one field and ending up working in a totally different field. Educated young people in the field of Media/Journalism have hopped into IT companies for better pay and perks and are shown the door during economic descends, even before they could make a sizeable saving. Highly educated software personnel have grabbed positions in Social Work at NGOs.
Undergraduates stepping out of their institutions just tend to grab any job that pays more instead of focusing on the purpose of their educational pursuits. The examples are replete.
If heads of institutions whether directors, principals, managers or correspondents do not gear up to be ‘out-of-the textbook’ leaders, our young people will continue to be in the doldrums and they will get something like the same answer of the Cheshire cat to Alice; “If you don’t know where you want to go, it does not matter which road you take”.
(The author is researching on the subject ‘Effect of Skill Development program on Enhancing Leadership Qualities among Undergraduate Students’ as part of his doctoral thesis. He is Manager and Correspondent of the Prestigious St. Patrick group of Institutions in Bangalore Archdiocese.)