From: muttiah@thistle.ecn.purdue.edu (Ranjan S Muttiah)
Subject: Re: Education and Jobs in SL
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 00:47:16 GMT

In article <1315@abb-sc.abb-sc.COM> na@abb-sc.abb-sc.com (Aru Arunasalam) writes:
>In article <1992Dec13.011446.7456@noose.ecn.purdue.edu>, muttiah@thistle.ecn.purdue.edu (Ranjan S Muttiah) writes...
>>You are absolutely right of course.  Standards should be brought up in all 
>>the disadvantaged regions of the country.  Some of the looney politicians
>>think that by getting a few doctors here, and then some engineers over
>>there that that would settle the problem of "backwardness."  What
>>moronic thought.  Just the opposite happens. It just makes those places
>>more backward.
>
>Agreed. If I can give these comments a slightly different twist: the government
>set out to level the playing field...but filled it with potholes instead.

I think there's also the problem of very short term versus long term thinking.
It would have make more sense in the long term for a community to sustain
itself by having the necessary human and other resources around.  Instead,
the government examined a small part of a larger problem, tried to solve it,
and thought all must be well! Ex., what about the hundreds of young men and
women who didn't get admission to universities ?  Those people don't show up
anywhere in the favorite statistics.  Don't these "backward" communities feel
INSULTED when their politicians go around trying to lower their district's
level of education ?  i.e., it pays to be less educated in this scheme of
standardization.

>>And guess what happend to those doctors and engineers
>>from the backward regions ?  Did they go back to their own home towns ?
>>Rarely if ever.  Most of them are driving BMWs and one even has access
>>to a computer account right here in 'ol US of A!
>
>This begs the question: should the "professional education pie" be sliced
>so that it benefits individuals from different parts of the country or
>should it be used to benefit the majority of the people in different parts 
>of the country? 

It should benefit whoever has worked hard for it.  To begin with, I for one
don't believe that the government should be the hand that cuts the pie up
anyway (see below).  But herein lies the problem.  It is laudable that a
community retain its resources.  Individuals however are $elfis$h, and they
will do whatever it takes to enhance their wealth.  If all the people who
came in through the backdoor from the disadvantaged regions did return to
their towns, then the standardization might have some weebit of merit.  But
I doubt it happens.  It is better in the long term that everyone be brought
up to standard.

>It is now more than 20 years since Sri Lanka started standardizing University
>entrance marks. It is time for the government to review whether standardization
>has been beneficial to Sri Lanka. From the point of view of personal health,
>I don't think it really matters which ethnic group your doctor belongs to.
>On the other hand, people in positions of power in Sri Lanka tend to look
>out for their own people, whether they are Jaffna Tamil Hindus or  they are
>Low Country Sinhala Catholics. So professional education can be used to
>leverage the self interests of a particular community. Unless there is some
>mechanism by which we can prevent this nepotism of sorts, or reduce people's
>dependence on government jobs, it will not be practical to remove 
>standardization altogether.

Look at the price the country is paying because of illusory schemes like this.
There's only so much the government can breast feed before the people develop 
teeth.  I think implicitly the government wants to have large masses of
people who are less educated because that way they will be sure of getting
elected again.  It is pretty ironic that when the English came to Ceylon,
as it was called then, they saw central authority as the best way to control
the masses (see how successful this was: ~200-300 years).  And now the same
monster is being used effectively by the very same people who should have
fought against it (then and even now).  The government should govern only
administratively (as you say, "level the playing field") and not control.  
Right now it controls everything from commerce to what one reads in the 
newspapers.  That has got to be devorced if Sri Lanka is to survive as a
country.  Otherwise, may the Tamils and the Sinhalese go their seperate ways.
Sadly, I note that the very same people who created the problem are now
trying to solve it (conveniently called "committees").  Will the people who
have power mandate themselves to have less of it ?  I know of no instance of 
this.  It will take a more forward looking generation to throw the rascals 
out and solve it once and for all (peacefully).
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka