Be a Thinking Person!!!!!

A senior academician recently posted a debate on face book questioning the relevance of reading newspapers and magazines by students towards doing well in their jobs. Apparently, this post was originated from the fact that students descent the idea of reading newspaper and watching news. The response to the post by others was even more bizarre as they tended to conclude that having knowledge of current affairs has no relation to one’s actual performance on the job. Being a recruitment psychologist, I felt it necessary to write on this for the large good of the student community and also for the benefit of recruiters.

Cognition as defined by Wikipedia is a group of mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and understanding language, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. When organizations hunt for a potential employee, among all attributes cognitive development of the candidate is of very great significance as this is the start point from which flows all other attributes be it effectiveness, responsibility or adaptability. One of the primary objectives of education is to develop the ability of students to grasp, reason and decide and the fact that there is a debate on where it is important to read newspapers goes to prove that this triad is miserably missing.

The present educational system of our country entirely focuses on one half of the definition of cognition. Students are forced to read subject matter with attention, memorize and reproduce in the exams and all those who do these well get fantastic scores in their boards. The latter part of the definition encompassing learning, reasoning, problem solving and decision making are comfortable ignored and it is these attributes which are essential to be successful on job. Take an example of IIT entrance. Thousands of students take up this exam and only a handful get a decent score while most score above 80% in their board exams. Here lies the difference. The entrance examination of IIT is based on application of knowledge which requires true learning of concepts, ability to reason, problem solving and decision making.

You may wonder, what is then the relevance of reading newspapers? True cognitive development should lead to inquisitiveness and as one reaches higher classes the need to find reasons for various phenomena should increase. To site an example, ideally at least all science students should know why ceiling fans rotate in an anticlockwise direction always. You will be surprised to know that several present day electrical engineers are unable to answer this question. Another example, most students use Scooty / Motor cycle these days. Ask them how it works and you will be shocked to see them wondering because they never questioned and reasoned as they simple taken it for granted. Recently an engineering student called on me for counseling to join Defence Services. During the discussion, I asked him for his views on the govt. proposal to start engineering courses through distances learning and I was not so surprised to see him clueless. He did not even know that such a proposal exists. Is it not relevant for him? Should he not have a reasoned view on such issues concerning his own domain? If I was his recruiter I would reject him out rightly, how much ever his scores in engineering is, simply because he has no inquisitiveness to know what is happening around him and hence no logical reasoning, problem identification / solving and decision making. Such candidates when in their job roles will be blissfully unaware of what is happening even in their immediate environment, leave aside the extended environment, and will behave like buffalos on the street.

Ideally a candidate should not only have quest for information but also the ability to separate grain from the chaff, identify the problem clearly, logically reason the cause and effect and arrive at his own decision/views. This ability can best be tested by a recruiter by asking the candidate his views on current issues. Hence, it is very important for students to not only read newspapers and watch news on television but think, rationalize and form their own views. This over a period will become a habit and while on job roles, such candidates will proactively keep scanning the environment and continuously form reasoned views and take / guide decisions. Such employees are every boss’s delight always!!!! So, be a thinking person.