by Salvatore Dali
In highlighting the shortcomings of today's young graduates, the below article is generalized, but I am sure that's pretty much the same conclusion throughout the country in all industries.
1) Rich parents - Parents who are rich, please note. Generally your children will be assholes if you do nothing right when they were young. That's because the over mollycoddling, pandering to their whims and fancies, have shaped their character - which is pathetic.
I have a few rich kids who have OK degrees, but decided to quit their jobs for a couple of months because they wanted to do "something else".
2) Character - Linking onto the above, the same spoilt brats generally have poor character. When I say character, I meant ability to assume responsibility, respect for corporate culture, ability to apply themselves well, work at something, ability to learn and willingness to learn, and general people skills.
3) English - Now we go to quality of graduates. Most, whether they are local or foreign graduates, cannot speak coherent English. I am appalled that the Chinese schools are now clamouring for Science and Maths to be taught in Chinese for the first 6 years of schooling. English is not a glorification of western culture, it is an essential tool for business and global communications. I am not dissing Chinese, Malay or Tamil language, but if you think you can compete in an increasingly globalised world with just your mother tongue, that it is misplaced arrogance of culture. Study English together with whatever other languages you want, not at the expense of English.
4) Communication skills - Oratory skills are mightily lacking in young graduates. The art of persuasion, the ability to project professionalism, and eventually the ability to lead. Just imagine Obama without his oratory skills. I always exhort my friends with kids to forget about the ballet classes, the extra tuition classes... make sure you enroll them in the drama and speech making skills classes, there are a few around.
5) Intellectually not strong - When I come across even those who scored fantastic results or graduated from top foreign universities, I find some of them unable to hold an intellectual argument. If presented with a common question such as why are we now in this global economic crisis. Most won't be able to answer effectively, providing one to two general answers.
A decent answer would have to include examining the crux factors and ascribing proper blame proportionately. You need to examine a complex issue from a few angles. Our education system is such that there is only one answer per question in the exam papers. Hence after giving one answer, they think they have answered the whole question.
Allow your kids to join the Scouts, Drama Clubs, Leos or Interact clubs. To me, these are breeding grounds for future corporate achievers. The interaction, social politics, club politics, camaraderie, application to one's objectives are all critical to encourage one to develop and establish his own identity and personality, and in many ways help them make sense of how the world operates. Most of the street smarts I know who now do well in corporate world, also did remarkably well in those movements and clubs when they were younger.
Parents nowadays have fewer children, so they can spend more resources on them. Don't molly-coddle. Some over protective parents do not allow their kids to join any societies or clubs. They get ferried to and from school and then to and from tuition. When home, they do some homework and play computer games or do internet chats. Time to rethink our influence in our young.
