Ignorance Is Not Bliss!

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Jasveena R Prabhagaran

Ignorance IS NOT Bliss!!

While child rape cases and teen pregnancies are on the rise today, it is sad to know that the society has not taken enough care to educate the young teenage girls the right way. This post is not about us being ignorant of the news on the latest beauty pageant or the earthquake in Philippines that took more than 100 lives away today. (Yes, there was an earthquake today, if you don\’t know about it yet, you can click on the link above. See, I am nice enough to update you with world news from CNN 😉 ).

I am deeply saddened with child rapes and I used to put myself in their shoes. How would it actually feel? Any child at the age of 5 will not know what has happened to her. She won\’t even know that she has been exploited barbarically by the Satan just to satiate his sexual needs. Can you imagine what would or should the mother tell the child if she asks what has happened to her? How will the family cope with the torture of seeing the child growing up in trauma? A child, being raped at 5, growing up and understanding that she has been violated without her knowing it would most likely feel like she has been cheated to no surmountable amount! It is not just her dignity that has been taken away, but her poor soul too that has been ripped off!

Girls are exposed to sexual education later than boys and this scenario is prevalent in countries in the East. I am not sure how it is at other places but if you take countries in the Middle East, the girls are basically treated like house-arrests! How can the girls learn about the dangerous world out there if they are constantly being kept at home and without proper guidance from their parents about self-protection? I don\’t see how treating boys differently than girls is justified when it comes to exposure about issues like sexual education.

Majority of girls in the East get to know about sex through their friends, that too if they are allowed to go to school! What if they are denied the rights to attend school or if they are being constantly watched over? Can you see why the younger generation is being mislead easily by the media? Because there is no proper guidance from the right person. Pornography is being so popular now because it is believed to be the source where kids could learn about sex. This situation has been taken to an advantage by the unscrupulous business people to market porn video!

It is sad to know that many parents still regard this subject a taboo and do not provide proper guidance to their girls! In a way, it is their fault why kids are not able to defend themselves. The next door uncle is not someone who your girl can \’play\’ with when you are away and in fact you should let them know that anyone can harm them anytime and no \’uncle\’ is safe or good enough to be a company or a friend! I have seen how parents teach their children to be obedient by asking them to treat anyone who is older to them very politely. Do these people really deserved to be respected in the first place? That is something they should think about first!

Educate your girls!!!

The martial arts classes and Kung Fu skills are not going to be handy if your girl doesn\’t know how to defend her emotions from being violated. Anyone can sweet-talk her and she would still be a victim! Teach your child what she needs to know at the right age, and the right age is no longer ten or eleven, but as young as four or five! You are responsible for your child\’s safety!

Why Should We Learn To Be A Good Juggler?

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Jasveena R Prabhagaran

The act of juggling

I really feel that students, when they are as young as a 7 years old, should be encouraged to get involved in multiple activities. As an adult now, I am realizing the importance of extra co-curricular activities because it teaches students to be a good juggler.

Parents during my school time were giving too much importance for studies and all they want their child to be was the top student of the school and that was like getting a Noble Prize for excellence. I can only feel sorry for those kids who couldn\’t think for themselves and went on to listen to their parents advice because they are nothing but a bookworm. They can\’t work without reference and they need a user-manual for almost everything they do and this is the reason why the First Class students fail in their working life. Nobody wants to hire someone who can\’t stand pressure at work place and juggle numerous responsibilities at one time.

I\’m not saying that you should be too hyperactive and get involved in every single event happening around you. Of course if that is what you do, you won\’t be able to focus well. But at the same time, you can\’t just devote your attention to one task. That shows how inefficient you are.

To end my random ramblings here, I will let you know what are those tasks I\’m juggling with. I\’m actively looking for a job and this week will be busy with an upcoming interview hopefully. I need to keep an eye on my email and apply for jobs online. I need to blog and empty my head space which gets occupied from time to time with issues to be discussed with all of you lovely readers. I need to get my book-writing going which is one of the top priorities now. I am also freelancing at the moment and reading books whenever I feel the urge to stay away from the computer. I spend time going to the mountain nearby for hiking at times and cleaning my house with my mother. I am also learning a few things about Social Psychology via Coursera. The next assignment is due first week of September so I can focus on other work first 🙂

If I have the chance, I wish to learn better German. I can say a few things in German and understand conversations to some extent. I need to also plan for my further education later.

I welcome you thoughts and views ! 😀 Thank you for your feedback

What Choice Of Study Makes You More Educated?

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Jasveena R Prabhagaran

When a child is born, or perhaps even before a child is born, parents would have a lot of expectation and plan for the child. That includes education and the school they would want to enrol their child to. Now, the trend in educating children has always been focused on fields like medicine, engineering and law. Why? Because parents believe that these are the only fields that would make their children successful.

I feel the urge to write on this issue particularly because of the perception people have towards education in my society. I believe this is also a common scenario in many other places around the world. So to narrow down the issue I’m talking about, I would paint a picture for you to imagine what’s going on in my society. When I was in school, all the way from the age of 7 till I passed high school, my only dream was to be a doctor. And every other students dream was also to be a doctor. From families to friends’ families, producing a doctor was a dream back then. My parents were told that I’m a bright child and could do well become a doctor. That’s how I thought to be successful is to be a doctor. I held on to this dream of mine so tightly until the point where I failed to secure a scholarship for it due to screwed up bias government and its policies (we are all going to put an end to this in the coming general election which is a few hours away from NOW).

Having failed to snatch a place for my scholarship, I told myself it’s time to decide on life and how life should be like. I pursued A Level which is called STPM in Malaysia and secured a place for Chemical Engineering. I took the offer, telling myself that I need a challenge in life to steer away from what I thought I ought to be, to something I never opted for as a choice of study. I never kept engineering as an option in my entire life. While some of us took what came our way, some students still insisted on becoming a doctor and went on to study abroad with their father’s hard earn money. I felt I wouldn’t need to prove myself successful in future just by securing a job which is thought to be successful. I told myself, I define what success is and not let my profession do the work for me.

Much to my dismay, parents of the kids who are doctors look down upon families who fail to produce doctors. These pathetic families includes family friends and also relatives who ridiculously think they have succeeded in producing doctors. They could even say that any other jobs apart from those related to medical field do not guarantee good future and secured job. Among the Indian society anywhere in the world, it’s so common to see at least one child being a doctor. While its notable that India and Indians produce good doctors, I think it’s time to open their small brains and minds up to accept the fact that being a doctor and being successful are two different things!

There are also parents who force their will against their children’s will. I had a friend who went on to be a doctor as both their parents are doctor and my friend had to be the one succeeding their business. At one other scenario, all three children pursued medicine as the father was in the medical line. Seriously, what are we trying to achieve or portray though this? We are just merely limiting our skills and talents on other fields and studies. Parents fail to see that one can be a writer, singer or politician and still be good at what he/she does. Why this prejudice on people based on profession? I feel so sorry for you, if you are one of the families I’m talking about, because I just feel your small brains are all closed up and think pathetically.

On the other hand, well-to-do families send their children to do this course, whether or not they are capable of doing or if they meet the criteria of being a doctor. What matter here is money and it speaks louder than anything else! Most of the students finding their way to do medicine is just not sure of what secures their future and thus choose to do medicine as it is thought to be lifting their torn images up.

I would rather be someone who does a course apart from medicine and still be successful to be a living proof for what I preach. To me, successful person is someone who lives life in her/his own way and make the most out of his/her talents and not just clinging onto the reputation a job gives. I’m REALLY glad I swayed away from the common notion of success the society held and challenged myself to be different from them. A successful person is meant to be successful no matter what he/she does.

Free or Fair Education?

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Jasveena R Prabhagaran

The issue of free education has come to limelight few months back in Malaysia as the 13^th General Election is coming soon next month. It has been something all students have been looking forward to and various political parties have come up with different mandates to attract student voters and fulfill their demands. The demand arises due to the fact that many students are still struggling to clear their student loan and find themselves stuck in the midst of other debts shortly after graduating.

What happens when a student graduates with the burden of student loan? The education fee everywhere varies with your choice of study and university. Courses like medicine and engineering would inevitably cost much more than language studies or management courses. On the other hand, you should pay more when you get enrolled in universities with high reputation as the value of your certificate and education increases with the quality of the studies they offer. So, at average a student who newly graduates would have to pay an amount of RM 50,000. Apart from that, graduate students face the burden of paying monthly installment for their vehicles and managing monthly expenses such as house rentals.

So, with an average pay of RM 3,000 for fresh graduates, they find it difficult to cope with the ridiculous cost of living while paying off their debts. Hence, the demand for free education has arisen. How important free education is and what expenses will it be implemented? Many countries in the European Union which provide free education tax their citizens on other fees like registration and administration.

What can be done to ease graduate students’ burden? What really matters in an education system? I’m a student with some amount of education loan to face after my graduation and I feel free education is not the issue that should top the priority of lawmakers and students. I feel that by enlarging the duration for loan payback and demolishing the interest taxed on student loans, students should be able to settle their debts after having a well-established job.

While free education is an idea to be celebrated, I feel fair education should be the focal point of lawmakers and those in the education sector. Fair education is still a dream never came true for many people all over the world. Discrimination is education still prevails through various forms such as race and gender. For women in the Middle East, getting a balanced and fair education like their brothers is still a struggle and a dream seems impossible. While in some other countries, chances to pursue higher education are brighter for students of a particular race and religion which dampen the spirit of other students who have done equally well in studies. Worse still, education is a privilege for the rich when the poor suffer from extreme poverty. Discrimination against gender, race, skin colour and religion when it comes to education has to come to an end. Only then a country will truly flourish and the best brains of a nation can emerge champions to serve the people better. After all, everyone is entitled to have the opportunity to learn. So, what difference can it make when we neglect fair education and fight for free education instead?