University ragging: Sub-cultural practice that should not be there

In a previous article in this series, I have touched upon the issue of ragging in Sri Lankan universities. The analysis in that article said that ragging at universities destroyed the creativity of a generation and is still valid.

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The following sections the present article draw heavily on that article.

Crème of brains going astray

Universities in Sri Lanka are supposed to recruit the crème of the top young brains by subjecting them to a highly competitive admission test administered as the GCE (Advanced Level) examination. Hence, they harbour right from the very beginning a superiority complex in them demanding all others to treat them as an unquestionable elite group. But they are simply throughputs that go through the university’s educational machinery. From society’s point, if they are to be of use to prospective employers, they should acquire certain qualities in the learning process.

Ready-to-use human resource unit

First, they must be a ready-to-use human resource. Employers hire those graduates in the hope that they could produce a good or a service which they can sell in the market at a price. From their point, the graduates passing out from universities are ‘ready-to-use human resource units’. ‘Ready-to-use’ means that once they are placed in jobs, they should be able to use their acquired skills to produce a good or a service immediately with no need for further training. A resource means that once they are employed, they should be able to produce an output that can be sold in the market. The normal microeconomic principles involving the diminishing marginal productivity are also applicable to them. There are certain qualities which employers expect of graduates if they are to become a resource which is readily usable.

Flexibility in attitudes