The fallacies surrounding higher education have reached a state where they fall on their faces.
The suggestion that “Ivy League” institutions can prepare individuals for vaguely visible possibilities of the future is like poking through straw to find the proverbial needle. Had it been otherwise, graduates of such should have been more than enough to solve the world’s problems.
Those failing to find the interconnect take refuge in the equally galling proposition that higher education shouldn’t be for all. That leads to the concept of vocational skill development institutions whereby, so-called lesser mentally blessed are guided to hands-on professions.
Daft as it may sound, there are few listings of the best vocational training institutions, thereby creating a sorry divide between theory and practice.
The other one, a motley of the revered top institutions continues unabated, causing tut-tutting in countries that don’t have representation on the list. It’s a psychologist’s nightmare.
Not only does it stir discomfort among governments, it contributes to an egregious down-lifting of spirits among young, eager minds aspiring to contribute to change.
World organizations dedicated to installing education systems and processes where they don’t exist or if so, do so in archaic forms, have failed in this regard. Dignity of labour has eroded due to this false superior-inferior conflict between theory and practice.
Theory reigns supreme; practice takes a poor back seat. There’s nothing unintentional about eschewing the former over the latter. From the Nobel prize to any awards or commendations, concentration has always been on theory. That practice has led to innovative application of theory isn’t recognized.
Knowledge-based societies cannot emerge or indeed, function for the human good if theory isn’t informed by practices and vice versa. Integrated societies, global villages, or free-markets are just a few examples of profound theories not just failing, but causing havoc.
Societies, markets, trading practices and globalization don’t have one-size-fits-all solutions. There is uniqueness no matter the similarities. Where it goes pear-shaped is in by-passing these realities.
Christine Lagarde has warned of an over-dependence on self-reliance. Why? Because it goes against global integration. It takes the stuffing out of multinational businesses plans, many of whom have net worths far in excess of that of individual countries.
The economics of today are far too skewed towards lop-sized wealth generation of a few rather than equitable distribution of wealth. Equitable economics isn’t a star-studded subject of study; development economics makes for a poor attempt at that.
The continuous input to the country’s economic view by Western philosophy has permeated thought processes of poorer nations. So much so that approaches to poverty alleviation are defined in obtuse and unrealistic terms.
Each year, budget speeches would have us believe that proposals ensure job creation and employment. Numbers past and present can never connect with such assumptions. The invisible gap is never bridged.
When the Bangabandhu bridge was built, we were given facts and figures of the improvement in GDP and employment. No one has a reliable figure to quote from that. The Padma bridge holds forth similar promises without any real numbers to boot. Comparative math such as earnings per ratio used in the stock market aren’t applied in realistic terms.
Before integrating globally, domestic integration should rule. If higher education institutions contain the “think tanks,” their inputs must come to bear on development plans, be it urban planning, rural development, or finance as a whole.
The Centres for Disease Control is a global hub for work on new disease outbreaks. Their guidance during the pandemic was studiously ignored by the US government, thereby the world. Politics being as crass as it is, no one has a count of the cost of such advice being ignored.
Knowledge-based decisions rather than thumb-in-the-air assumptions are more likely to work. Then again, knowledge doesn’t just come from books and theories. They draw heavily on experience, reality, and practicality.
Mahmudur Rahman is a writer, columnist, broadcaster, and communications specialist.
