Being faithful to what you do!
People always expect you to write a novel if you read for an English degree! If it is a Honours degree the expectations are pretty high! Writing a novel or even a poem needs a lot of time! When I was a child I had a passion to publish two three novels in a single year!!! Reading a big book was also a big dream of mine. I used to gaze at people who were reading classic novels in trains and buses 😀😀😀😀😀(I always have this crazy desire to look at people's face and know what is going on inside their head and what they are feeling..
Are they happy, sad, tired, excited or whatnot? 😅😅😅😅😅)But now I realise that fiction and literature altogether is a far more advanced or complex than publishing two three novels in a calendar year. I always wanted to be a publisher one day. I also wonder why people do not have the same expectation of graduates who read for a Sinhala degree???? I think Sinhala and English are not considered two langauges in this island nation. It is sad that people do not realise that both these are just two languages spoken or written by people who happen to use them for one purpose: communication. I also feel that this is further problematised by graduates who are reading for a Sinhala degree. Do they share the passion for the langauge and culture associated with the language they study? Or do they condescend the very fact that they are studying an indigenous language? Many more questions needed to be answered by
graduates who study in this pearl of a nation who have no idea that there are vast number of primary sources and literatures for studies in humanities and social sciences. Part of the problem is education is an end for many of the students in this country. I think there are a few number of students in this country who read something for the sake of quenching their curiosity? Part of the problem also lies with parents. They do not see education as a journey but just a tool to earn a living. That attitude hurts our intelligentsia a lot. Specially students who want to study arts are discoursged and demotivated. Kids should have the opportunity to learn what they love! No wonder Sri Lanka does not acamdemically significant theories or innovations because people do not study what they yearn or they have to change their studies forgetting their passions. The only remedy to this issue is enabling our kids to pursue what they like no matter what their parents desire. Then we will be able to create a just, equal society where people will not exploit the power of their positions because they love what they do. Atheletes will win medals even at international touranments , musicians will compose operas, cricketers will win world cups after world cups (Sri Lankan national cricket team is only represented by the Western Province, Southern Province and Central Province: what has happened to the crcketers in Uva, Eastern and Northern or North Central Provinces?) sculptors will make art and we will have talented writers, actor and even tailors, masons and carpenters who love their job. What we need is not big buidlings with swimming pools with big narratives but humane teachers with knowledge who can guide students whatever they are good at. Schools should be like universities and where pople can nourish freely: a place or a centre to polish their talents, not to be rejected or punished for not knowing 2+2=4 or symbols like +×÷=%. I am not saying they are not important but we have to be mature enough to accept that it is only one branch of knowledge. I have seen masons and labourers with amazing arithmetic skills but do not get recognised in society as a result of lack of formal education. All I am saying is we should expand the definition of 'formal education.' When they love what they do, automatically everyone wil start to respect each other's job and everyone will know the value of other one's duty. We do not need to turn Sri Lanaka into a Singapore. All we need to have is people who love each other, people who are willing to work hard and people who respect humanity. We do not need big buildings, people or grand narratives to achieve this. All we need to do is a change in our rotten system. Everyone will do their job right! Hail to a Sri Lanka where people do what they love and love what they do!
Are they happy, sad, tired, excited or whatnot? 😅😅😅😅😅)But now I realise that fiction and literature altogether is a far more advanced or complex than publishing two three novels in a calendar year. I always wanted to be a publisher one day. I also wonder why people do not have the same expectation of graduates who read for a Sinhala degree???? I think Sinhala and English are not considered two langauges in this island nation. It is sad that people do not realise that both these are just two languages spoken or written by people who happen to use them for one purpose: communication. I also feel that this is further problematised by graduates who are reading for a Sinhala degree. Do they share the passion for the langauge and culture associated with the language they study? Or do they condescend the very fact that they are studying an indigenous language? Many more questions needed to be answered by
graduates who study in this pearl of a nation who have no idea that there are vast number of primary sources and literatures for studies in humanities and social sciences. Part of the problem is education is an end for many of the students in this country. I think there are a few number of students in this country who read something for the sake of quenching their curiosity? Part of the problem also lies with parents. They do not see education as a journey but just a tool to earn a living. That attitude hurts our intelligentsia a lot. Specially students who want to study arts are discoursged and demotivated. Kids should have the opportunity to learn what they love! No wonder Sri Lanka does not acamdemically significant theories or innovations because people do not study what they yearn or they have to change their studies forgetting their passions. The only remedy to this issue is enabling our kids to pursue what they like no matter what their parents desire. Then we will be able to create a just, equal society where people will not exploit the power of their positions because they love what they do. Atheletes will win medals even at international touranments , musicians will compose operas, cricketers will win world cups after world cups (Sri Lankan national cricket team is only represented by the Western Province, Southern Province and Central Province: what has happened to the crcketers in Uva, Eastern and Northern or North Central Provinces?) sculptors will make art and we will have talented writers, actor and even tailors, masons and carpenters who love their job. What we need is not big buidlings with swimming pools with big narratives but humane teachers with knowledge who can guide students whatever they are good at. Schools should be like universities and where pople can nourish freely: a place or a centre to polish their talents, not to be rejected or punished for not knowing 2+2=4 or symbols like +×÷=%. I am not saying they are not important but we have to be mature enough to accept that it is only one branch of knowledge. I have seen masons and labourers with amazing arithmetic skills but do not get recognised in society as a result of lack of formal education. All I am saying is we should expand the definition of 'formal education.' When they love what they do, automatically everyone wil start to respect each other's job and everyone will know the value of other one's duty. We do not need to turn Sri Lanaka into a Singapore. All we need to have is people who love each other, people who are willing to work hard and people who respect humanity. We do not need big buildings, people or grand narratives to achieve this. All we need to do is a change in our rotten system. Everyone will do their job right! Hail to a Sri Lanka where people do what they love and love what they do!
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