''HONORING GREAT-VOCATIONS INTERNSHIPS'' : 3/3

IN the developing world, say Proud Pakistan, parents continue to finance their children's college education. On the other hand, children of the West are forced to take up odd jobs from an early age that helps to break their pride as far as quality of work is concerned.

In the developing world, the attitude of spoon-feeding and fear of slurring reputation on ability to provide, prevents parents from allowing their child to take up any job, let alone an odd-one until completion of their education.

Even their subsequent weddings are fully funded by the doting parents. Another great dilemma could be the absence of proper regulations and enforcement of labour laws in our country enabling odd jobs to carry better monetary compensation comparable with those of the West.

The question then arises, how to subdue the sense of moral superiority that our minds are obsessed  with? Obviously, it would be extremely difficult to overnight dismantle our closely bound family system or change the mental outlook of our family.

A well planned and focused scheme of things would need to be implemented at both governmental  and academic levels. On the part of the  government, compensations for ''low-class'' jobs should be raised to a reasonable limit that is sufficient to meet the needs of an average family.

Those of who are guilty of exploiting the poor should be given exemplary punishment, not by mere imprisonment or meagre fines but through bashing in the media.

The loss of one's good repute is more dreadful than loss of money.

On the academic front, at the college level where opportunities are available with big companies, a couple of weeks of apprenticeship with ordinary artisans and workers should be made compulsory for boys and girls before conferring them with degrees.

This would introduce them to the realities of labour and teach them to appreciate the jobs that are so easily ignored, rather than looked down upon.

Together this might cause a crack in the orthodox outlook of our people and bestow honour on those whose jobs are still considered low-grade though not meaningless.