Earn while you learn

[Prakup]

Is it the dawn of the materialistic age? Or are we just wiser now?

[prakup]

Down memory lane. It’s a four-lane highway now. Them days, it was the easiest thing in the world to bawl for something, and papa dearest would have it for you in a flash. To be honest aspirations were limited too! The corner candy store was the destination where most demands ended. Times change, as do people. Demands, needless to say, underwent changes too.
First you got the designer clothes that you Oh-so-desperately wanted and then the sneakers to go with them. Them of course the mandatory bike without which the wings of the urban youth are well and truly clipped. Then came the crunch. Papa dearest, in most cases was willing to throw in the cash for the bike and the bike alone. The running, well… you wanted it didn’t you!
So the fire in the belly and gas in the tank motivated you to take the rough road to financial independence. If a few wrong turn now and then took you to the thorny paths, you learnt from the experience. And realized at the same time that the stuff you were forced to learn in school and college, wouldn’t help you survive for two days in the real world!
To add to your woes, the college authorities began getting more and more particular about the number of absences that you had chalked up. Threats of a fine, letters to folks and the not so distant possibility of expulsion reined you in for a while.
But then, the futility of the entire thing got to you. You were learning all the right things outside and making money to sustain yourself in the process. You were able to live the life that you had envisioned for yourself without being a burden on your folks in the bargain. And as for the stuff you were supposedly missing by staying in college, well! The lesser said the better.
You need your degree though if you’re planning to get into any sort of respectable organization. But you need all the time you have to earn-while-you-learn too! How does one strike the right balance? Is there a right balance anyway???

[prakup]

Down memory lane. It’s a four-lane highway now. Them days, it was the easiest thing in the world to bawl for something, and papa dearest would have it for you in a flash. To be honest aspirations were limited too! The corner candy store was the destination where most demands ended. Times change, as do people. Demands, needless to say, underwent changes too.
First you got the designer clothes that you Oh-so-desperately wanted and then the sneakers to go with them. Them of course the mandatory bike without which the wings of the urban youth are well and truly clipped. Then came the crunch. Papa dearest, in most cases was willing to throw in the cash for the bike and the bike alone. The running, well… you wanted it didn’t you!
So the fire in the belly and gas in the tank motivated you to take the rough road to financial independence. If a few wrong turn now and then took you to the thorny paths, you learnt from the experience. And realized at the same time that the stuff you were forced to learn in school and college, wouldn’t help you survive for two days in the real world!
To add to your woes, the college authorities began getting more and more particular about the number of absences that you had chalked up. Threats of a fine, letters to folks and the not so distant possibility of expulsion reined you in for a while.
But then, the futility of the entire thing got to you. You were learning all the right things outside and making money to sustain yourself in the process. You were able to live the life that you had envisioned for yourself without being a burden on your folks in the bargain. And as for the stuff you were supposedly missing by staying in college, well! The lesser said the better.
You need your degree though if you’re planning to get into any sort of respectable organization. But you need all the time you have to earn-while-you-learn too! How does one strike the right balance? Is there a right balance anyway???

[Chiranjeevi]

That was a fairly long message you wrote. Kudos to you. As a person who had an opportunity of studying more than one culture (am an NRI and a newbie at that), I think that in the Indian context, \"earn while you learn\" does not make a lot of sense. You cannot make anything respectable unless you are good and if you are good, you must spend that time honing your skills for a better morrow. Well may be I am out of touch with the reality of India today.

[Imran]

Yeah! there\'s a right balance....MA ASS! Are you kidding?

[prakup]

No Imran! Despite your admittedly superior knowledge about parts of your anatomy, I\'m talking about something really serious here. Like Chiranjeevi our NRI pal pointed out, it does take time to home ones skills in the portals of higher learning! My question is, are the portals of higher learning actually just that or have they metamhorped into money spinning, wool-pulling, commercial profit centers?
And as regards work, I feel it is more of a necessity than a choice. Choices cease to exist when the real world has you by your throat and is staring down at you through cruel, mean slits. Choices don\'t exist when you can\'t afford to get yourself a decent plate of Biryani atleast once a week and crave for it each time the tantalizing aroma wallops your senses as you pass by an Irani hotel. Choices don\'t exist when you see jerks (and unadulterated ones at that) pass you by in their flashy cars with hi-decibel music and mandatory girl in tow. All they\'ve done to ever deserve it is to be born with a silver spoon thrust down their gullet!
But you need the education to make your bread. And you need the dough to get the education in the first place! It\'s a vicious cirle out here, and I\'m curious as to how our generation is taking it!

All comments welcome, even anatomically descriptive ones!

[prakup]

Since the topic has obviously elicited near zero response, I propose to give it a slightly different direction. For a change we could discuss freelancing in general and freelance writing in particular here. Freelance. Since the time I entered the market, this word has been making its way to my ear. I’ve heard a lot about how people mint money in freelance. Then there is the lure of flexible timings! Few jobs can offer that! Especially in a field like writing, freelancing is the only way to have your cake and eat it too! I’m a writer. A copy writer and a content creator. In my quest to learn more about writing opportunities, I’ve come across a few sites on freelance writing which are really cool. I’m presenting them here in the hope that those who are interested may access them to learn more. Here we go: elance.com, writingformoney.com, absolutewrite.com, freelancewriting.com, freelanceonline.com, suite101.com, writetobusiness.com and creativemoonlighter.com. The best part about these sites is that they offer you writing assignments online! If you have the specialization they seek that is! Check it out if you intend to make a career out of writing! And all the best!

[conscious]

I completely agree with earn-while-you-learn concept. I don\'t think it is so much of making a respectable buck, but about understanding what it means to make and spend your own hard earned cash. Most of us depend way too much on our parents to get us through school. I have to admit, I have too, but I seriously believe we need to change the paradigm. Western society teaches kids that right from school by teaching kids - whether it is selling girl scout cookies or lemonade. We consider it beneath our dignity to sell stuff or work when our parents can provide us with everything we need. I think both kids and parents need to change to make this work. Remember, dignity of labor is harder to earn than labor itself.