Jean & Marcos Catao,
Thank you for an interesting view of education and its uses. But first, I
think your explanation for lack of business drive among the Catholic Goans
is pretty accurate. There have been posts on Goanet about this issue before.
However, while it is probably true that most Catholic Goans do not go into
business, this has been true when they have lived in fairly stable
societies. When the situation became more fluid as in Kenya, after
independence, it is of some interest to note how many went into business
enterprises and created new jobs for themselves, and others, when businesses
expanded. Some have done pretty well and the uncertainty there regarding
their stay prompts them to amass as much money as possible in many cases and
to have fluid money for a possible urgent getaway.
However, your take on education echoed views so often heard about the
utilitarian aspect of education. This is creeping in the UK strongly, when
previously, education for its own sake was more significant. But then this
was also because higher education was mainly a middleclass activity and as
so few did go to university, graduates were guaranteed good jobs for life in
virtually any subject from Latin to philosophy. In contrast, many courses or
programs which were provide in American universities were scoffed at but are
now well established, especially in the newer universities. I could go on re
this theme but won't do so for now.
I want to refer to the relative social status for different occupational
groups and do a bit of contrasting between India and the UK.
In India, as in the UK, the occupation and study for medicine and law
generally generated high status. Historically, the arts in India did not
feature highly. Yet, in the UK, after medicine and law, the arts, humanities
and social sciences have attracted among the brightest of the students.
Subjects like English (literature) and History competitively drawn in very
large numbers of students, especially in the elite institutions. Here they
"read" English and History rather than study it!
In contrast, engineering which enjoys high status in India enjoys much lower
status in the UK and many universities are closing their engineering courses
for lack of students or they manage to keep some courses open by getting
overseas students to fill places. The same is true for the natural sciences.
Part of the reason is that, in bourgeois Britain, despite the outstanding
achievements of scientists and engineers in the making of industrial
Britain, the nation has sadly turned its back on such people. Consequently,
their earnings are relatively low and their status even lower.
I was brought up in Kenya and lived there until taking up study in London. I
therefore came here with the baggage of values as in India. These were
largely transferred to Kenya among the Asian population. I saw science and
engineering quite positively, only to discover that the opposite tended to
be true here. One of my earliest memories as a student was when a fellow
student accidentally blurted that her boyfriend was an engineer but she was
adamant that I should not disclose this to anyone else! She informed me that
only the "thickies" did engineering. Of course this perception is suspect
but a bit like in India, where the view is often expressed that only
"duffers" do the arts. One explanation for this is that the UK is a
post-industrial society and service industries have superseded industrial
production especially where volume production mattered before. Specialised
engineering does go on of course, and there tends to be work for engineers
and scientists in niche areas including the production of sophisticated
weaponry. However, the incomes for scientists and engineers tend to be low
and rapidly changing technology makes them vulnuerable to changing work
needs/demands, especially in IT. Even retraining can't keep up with changing
needs and fresh younger people are looked for instead of those who are more
experienced. In many non manual production fields, one is too old at 35 or
40.
Finally, we have a society where it is almost proudly stated that, " I can't
do maths" i.e even fairly elementary maths. The computer has come to the aid
of such people in super-markets etc.and most other fields.
I hope we can continue with this kind of discussion which is close to my
heart. Perhaps you could tell me what you do and where, as I have not
encountered your name on Goanet before.
Cornel DaCosta, London, UK.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jean & Marcos Catao
To: goanet@goanet.org
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 5:47 PM
Subject: [Goanet] GOA INITIATIVES: THEN AND NOW.......
I wanted to make a few comments on two pertinent points/questions raised by
HELGA do ROSARIO GOMES on the matter
Her first question refers to the relative paucity of Goans taking
initiatives in the industrial/commercial sectors. For a long time now,
people have wondered why Goans, eminent in fields as diverse as medicine,
law, engineering, music and arts have been conspicuous by their absence in
big business. The only recorded instance of an 'eminent' Goan businessman is
that of Sir Roger Faria who was born in 1770(his father was from Sangolda)
and died in 1828. He owned two ships and did extensive trade overseas as far
as China. Jamshetjee Jeejeebhoy was a partner in his firm.
After that there is a big blank until the fifties when mid-sized Companies
like Salgaonkar, Dempo appeared with the 'take-off' of the mining industry.
In my view, there may be two reasons ascribable for this:in the first place,
the Christian idea of profit as 'filthy lucre," i.e. as something
essentially undesirable, if not downright sinful 'could have over the years
seeped into the psyche, creating a certain aversion to it, more specially
when you consider it is widely believed you cannot succeed in business
unless you do some underhand jugglery. Secondly, the so called 'riches' of
the Goan rich are infinitessimal in relation to the huge capital
requirements for an industry.Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)
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