education & critical thinking

my first month on the project here i was working very independently as i put together the market analysis and strategic sales and marketing plan.  in that time i heard a lot of frustration from expats about the local staff they worked with.  an assistant had been hired for me before i even started but she quit after one day because the HR guy introduced her around as an assistant instead of a deputy.  then as i started building staff to implement the project i began to understand what the other expats were talking about. 

all the nationals have bunches of certificates and 'degrees' which seems like it would be impressive.  but the certifications for the most part are worthless.  i met with the HR Director of a multinational oil and gas company and he said he can't justify hiring nationals with engineering degrees because they can't do the same work as engineers trained outside the country.  i had a westerner tell me he wouldn't hire anyone under the age of 30.

under the British rule [pre 1950] the education system was quite good.  so it is very common to meet 60 year old men who speak perfect english and can debate philosophy.  the staff i have is not like that.  they are not stupid but they have no critical thinking skills or any practical business skills at all.  most American teenagers have better computer skills than the 20ish college graduates here.    it's going to be a problem for the country for at least another generation.

teachers are one of the most highly respected professions but even at the university level some are paid only $90 month.  

this card says it all.  here's a woman with a bunch of degrees including one on Intellectual Property.  she misspelled Intellectual as Intelletual.