Sindh Provincial Youth Convention.
I had a chance to represent my university at the first ever Sindh provincial youth convention at the Karachi University. The event was held in the arts auditorium of the KU from 9th February to 11th February. The mega event, that it was, attracted lots of media attention as well as comments from various circles of the society. It was organized with the active help of HEC in order to select student representatives from provincial level to represent Sindh at the annual youth convention in Islamabad.
The event was a very interesting affair as far as I was concerned. We were invited on a very short notice and very few details as to the format of the event were made available. So much so that the themes for the convention were revised on the very last day. I was a part of a three member team sent the the way of Karachi University for the convention. None of us was in a very declamatory mood thus we decided to keep upto the spirits of such youth conventions and get intellectual!
The three themes given were:
1-Pakistan is not a nation in crisis.
2-Higher education and job security go hand in hand.
3-Youth of today are the tomorrow of Pakistan.
On reaching the convention we realized that the format was setup keeping in mind the good spirits of such youth conventions. This means that all were supposedly (and I say supposedly) there to identify and discuss issues in a peaceful environment concerned to our given themes. The purpose of this convention was not to stage just another declamation contest where arguments were based on mere rhetoric but to promote skilful thinking in the youth of today_ sadly no one realized the dream...
Each participant was chosen at random to speak on a randomly assigned theme on the spot. The thinking behind this procedural approach was to eliminate any rote spurting out of speeches and to see how do the youth perform in candid environs. Most of the youth failed the test. Out of 78 participants almost 28 walked out without even saying a single word. The reason was inability to speak extempore. They were expecting the convention to be a declamation contest and were not at all ready for what befall them instead. Thus they took the approach that most of our nations takes when confronted with difficult situations__ they slipped without even intimating the organizers.
Those of us who remained were not a very delightful lot either. Most read already memorized speeches. Some even from pieces of paper. I saw more than one participant memorizing there speeches before the start of the sessions.
The participants were not able to form a forum of discussion of issues rather resorted to talking about the same issues over and over again without ever providing their solutions to their problems. This habit lost the spirit. Many were unable to comprehend the meanings of the themes. Almost all were unable to differentiate between a nation and a state. Others praised the dictator in hope of getting through.
All in all I was utterly disappointed by the intellectual capabilities of the youth of today. For the matter of discussion I introduced the concepts of Globalization, importance of micro indicators in the economy, strong judiciary and education as an industry with international promises. I am pretty sure my effort went in vain as the participants were unable to make anything out of what I said at the expense of my allocated time for the sake of generation of a more versatile discussion. Even the students from distinguished business institutes failed to pick up the line. Everyone was complacent at talking about education in every theme. Everyone talked about how they were not getting the right education but not even a single participant could dare to define his/her idea of education let alone providing any viable solutions to the problems. Many were happy at blaming the elders for not doing enough for them and thought it to be the root cause of all misery.
It all went even more disappointing for me when one of the distinguished participant remarked that he was participating in the convention with mere intent of going to China as part of our idea exchange programme. People were more interested in getting through to the Islamabad convention. As one of the judges remarked during one of the open forums which were not being judged that students were able to express themselves better in the open forum rather than the forum where they knew they were being adjudged for the deal.
We are a sad sad lot. Something even more sad is the fact that no real effort is being made to correct our collective thinking. If this is the future of this country then I am sorry I do not see any change occurring for the good. If these are the future leaders of this country who lack even the simplest of senses of a healthy discussion then I am not willing to live in this country of 140 million miserable souls.
bashing to continue...
I had a chance to represent my university at the first ever Sindh provincial youth convention at the Karachi University. The event was held in the arts auditorium of the KU from 9th February to 11th February. The mega event, that it was, attracted lots of media attention as well as comments from various circles of the society. It was organized with the active help of HEC in order to select student representatives from provincial level to represent Sindh at the annual youth convention in Islamabad.
The event was a very interesting affair as far as I was concerned. We were invited on a very short notice and very few details as to the format of the event were made available. So much so that the themes for the convention were revised on the very last day. I was a part of a three member team sent the the way of Karachi University for the convention. None of us was in a very declamatory mood thus we decided to keep upto the spirits of such youth conventions and get intellectual!
The three themes given were:
1-Pakistan is not a nation in crisis.
2-Higher education and job security go hand in hand.
3-Youth of today are the tomorrow of Pakistan.
On reaching the convention we realized that the format was setup keeping in mind the good spirits of such youth conventions. This means that all were supposedly (and I say supposedly) there to identify and discuss issues in a peaceful environment concerned to our given themes. The purpose of this convention was not to stage just another declamation contest where arguments were based on mere rhetoric but to promote skilful thinking in the youth of today_ sadly no one realized the dream...
Each participant was chosen at random to speak on a randomly assigned theme on the spot. The thinking behind this procedural approach was to eliminate any rote spurting out of speeches and to see how do the youth perform in candid environs. Most of the youth failed the test. Out of 78 participants almost 28 walked out without even saying a single word. The reason was inability to speak extempore. They were expecting the convention to be a declamation contest and were not at all ready for what befall them instead. Thus they took the approach that most of our nations takes when confronted with difficult situations__ they slipped without even intimating the organizers.
Those of us who remained were not a very delightful lot either. Most read already memorized speeches. Some even from pieces of paper. I saw more than one participant memorizing there speeches before the start of the sessions.
The participants were not able to form a forum of discussion of issues rather resorted to talking about the same issues over and over again without ever providing their solutions to their problems. This habit lost the spirit. Many were unable to comprehend the meanings of the themes. Almost all were unable to differentiate between a nation and a state. Others praised the dictator in hope of getting through.
All in all I was utterly disappointed by the intellectual capabilities of the youth of today. For the matter of discussion I introduced the concepts of Globalization, importance of micro indicators in the economy, strong judiciary and education as an industry with international promises. I am pretty sure my effort went in vain as the participants were unable to make anything out of what I said at the expense of my allocated time for the sake of generation of a more versatile discussion. Even the students from distinguished business institutes failed to pick up the line. Everyone was complacent at talking about education in every theme. Everyone talked about how they were not getting the right education but not even a single participant could dare to define his/her idea of education let alone providing any viable solutions to the problems. Many were happy at blaming the elders for not doing enough for them and thought it to be the root cause of all misery.
It all went even more disappointing for me when one of the distinguished participant remarked that he was participating in the convention with mere intent of going to China as part of our idea exchange programme. People were more interested in getting through to the Islamabad convention. As one of the judges remarked during one of the open forums which were not being judged that students were able to express themselves better in the open forum rather than the forum where they knew they were being adjudged for the deal.
We are a sad sad lot. Something even more sad is the fact that no real effort is being made to correct our collective thinking. If this is the future of this country then I am sorry I do not see any change occurring for the good. If these are the future leaders of this country who lack even the simplest of senses of a healthy discussion then I am not willing to live in this country of 140 million miserable souls.
bashing to continue...
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