Dear Salus,
Thanks for your considered reply to my query. At least you have grasped the
substance of my query, unlike Mario who construes any question as an attack
on his choice and feels he has to belligerently defend that choice - when
in fact there was no attack.
Now let me take this debate on a slightly different track.
Your initial mail said your children have an "advantage of choice as far as
choice of careers go". But your response to my query below focuses on
educational opportunities available in Australia. Agreed there is an
obvious link between one's education and one's career but education
opportunities do not necessarily mean there are career opportunities in the
country.
I have heard stories of qualified professionals in Australia (and
elsewhere) doing menial jobs as there are no job opportunities in their
particular field. Isn't that then a waste of an education? Not to say the
problem does not exist in India, but we do admit to it.
In a related vein, are we emphasising too much on the education of our
children? Almost all parents I know in my age group (35-50), whether in
India or abroad, are hell bent on giving their children the best possible
education money (and loans) can buy. Sometimes it is because they
themselves did not have that opportunity. In other cases it is a flock
mentality.
I am not denying the advantage of a good education but surely the weightage
given is a bit disproportionate. I know of parents who live a lifestyle of
relative poverty just so that they can pay their children's University fees
(mostly private or abroad). Isn't the purpose of earning to also live a
good life? The cycle tends to repeat itself and each generation spends so
much time, energy and money blindly denying themselves - so that their
children may have a higher education.
My basic argument is that we lay much too much emphasis on over-educating
our children as compared to other aspects of living. Almost all of us are
involved in careers that make little or no use of the education our parents
made possible for us by denying themselves some basic luxuries.
Would I go abroad for a better lifestyle? Yes. For a chance to make a lot
of money? Yes. For my own career advancement. Yes? For my children to have
better education opportunities, which may or may not translate into a
successful career? I doubt it.
Cheers!
Cecil
======
Salus wrote:
Just have a go at any of the Australian Universities, and see the choice
for yourself. And mind you, you do not need a grand distinction to gain
entry, and mind you, these are very good centers of learning, far better
than what is on offer in Goa.
click here for more details:
http://www.unimelb.edu.au/
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/
http://www.rmit.edu.au/
http://www.swin.edu.au/
http://www.monash.edu.au/
http://www.deakin.edu.au/
Now these are only a few universities in a small place like Melbourne. Go
through the sites and see what is there on offer. Besides university
degrees, there are also options of courses like TAFE etc., and like I said
earlier, our children do have a better advantage as far as choice of
careers go. If we were in Goa, we only had Goa University, and I do not
have to say more. By the way, Goa is also bigger than Melbourne. So the
question of choice is far bigger than you can imagine.
I do not want to let our beloved Goa down, but sometimes we do need to make
hard decisions for the sake of our loved ones. We were doing well in Goa,
and were very comfortable, but had to leave it all behind for the sake of
our children. Mind you, it did hurt a lot making that decision, but we
just had to do it, and today we know we did not make a mistake.
I agree that education here is very costly as compared to Goa, but there
are Government subsidies to enable the young ones to afford whatever they
need by way of education, and payback is slow on low interest terms, mainly
deducted off your income, based on your income earned, when you earn
it. In Goa, we have to rely on the banks, and I need not go into those
details now.
Incidentally, there are scores of Indian students including Goans ones
studying independantly in Universities over here. Many opt to stay on
after completion of their courses, but still many do opt to return to
India, and I am not surprised with their decision in that regard. If my
children decide to return to India, they will have my support too, in that
decision.
Your friend may have had different reasons for his migration, but then we
all have our own very reasons too. For some it may be wanderlust, but not
for all.
By the way, I still love my Goa, and care a lot about what is going on
there. Nothing can change or diminish the Goa that is in my heart.
