A group of young Venezuelans - meaning, all about my age - have recently launched a blog (in Spanish) focusing on spreading out ideas to rebuild this country once transition starts. We feel that with the presidential elections' next year; transition might be nearer than expected, and if we do not act accordingly, our country and what we want to make out of it; will vanish.
The blog has already been praised and criticized by Caracas Chronicles' writters. I equally praise the initiative, the extented invitation to think about our country' future. I also welcome the responsability this young group has taken upon their hands, for they have recognize the proximity of an heritage we will have to handle soon. We are not kids anymore and the course of this country does not belong to our parents. Despite our folks' achievements and many, many mistakes; Venezuelan now belong to us. As simple as that.
Only trouble with Enlace Venezuela' team is - as Caracas Chronicles' also stated - the use of a language so flourished and so complicated that it is hard to understand even to an educated person. If Enlace Venezuela' is inviting us to construct a vision together, it should make it simplier. Their use of such language was no surprise to me. I know most of Enlace Venezuela' bloggers from the university, we shared the same off- curricula activities and without doubt, they are among the best of their cohorts. Most of them are already attending Harvard or other equally worldwide prestigious universities (while I'm struggling to enter at least a regular one). So I would tell them, privately and publically here, you have nothing to prove. We know you are smart, comitted, and filled with outrageous ideas. I know most of you are also fun, easy going, politically oriented and worried about reaching a higher audience; so show me that side.
Fortunately, the latest entry shows a more plain use of the language. Not to mention it really touches a nerve in my generation (and probably many others). The post is about the lack of orientation high school graduates recieve; and how, Venezuelan' system demands them to choose without basis nor information, the career they are going to be stuck with for the rest of their lives; all at the tender age of 17. It's not a priority - we Venezuelans, Third of Fourth world country have a lot more important issues to care about: poverty, insecurity, Human Rights, household, health.... you name it. But there are a lot of people out there, just wasting productive time while finding something they want; or spending five years or more getting a degree they won't ever practice. And without properly motivated human capital, how do we address the rest of the issues?
I was, like most, 17 when I got my high school diploma. A sick childhood filled with surgeries, doctors visits and medical exams; made me think, as a teenager, that it was my destiny to become a doctor. My GPA was not high enough. So I studied like crazy during my two last highschool years for the medicine entrance exam (there is only one medicine school in my city) which demanded deep knowledge on math, chemistry, biology and physics. I was waitlisted with fewer hopes as days passed by of finally getting in.
My father - worried about me wasting a year of my life- encouraged me to apply somewhere else, to pursue another career while I was giving a second shot to my doctor' dream. I present the exam required to enter UCAB my alma mater. I choose a career randomly out of a brochure. In a few months I was starting a career of whom I had no clue of what it was about. After a while, I started to like professors, classmates and classes quite enough to stay; or maybe I was just feeling lazy to knock on Medicine school' doors all over again.
Five years later I finished all coursework required. A year and a half after that - thank you, horrible thesis - I graduate. People believe me to be very talented and suitable for my field. But what they don't know is that I have struggled greatly to find a job and still haven't found one that suits me. I do not dominate my field entirely to be competitive; I feel only inspired by one part of it. I have all my hopes put in a future graduate school admission that will focus all my energy in this particular part of my field; and from there, I might finally shine.
But in the meantime I often think that, if I had had at 17, more time to make an informed decision, I might have choosen differently, or I might have drawn a career path differently.
It is only when are truly working on what you were made for, that you are able to be productive, and thus become a greater contributor for society.
So I'm glad Enlace Venezuela' people are thinking about health, poverty, insecurity, economics etc etc etc. But I'm also glad they are also thinking even beyond that. I'm also glad that most of them, even abroad, are thinking about home. Probably some of them will be offered great opportunities abroad and they will not come back. But the fact they are at least hoping to do it, is somehow heartening.
The blog has already been praised and criticized by Caracas Chronicles' writters. I equally praise the initiative, the extented invitation to think about our country' future. I also welcome the responsability this young group has taken upon their hands, for they have recognize the proximity of an heritage we will have to handle soon. We are not kids anymore and the course of this country does not belong to our parents. Despite our folks' achievements and many, many mistakes; Venezuelan now belong to us. As simple as that.
Only trouble with Enlace Venezuela' team is - as Caracas Chronicles' also stated - the use of a language so flourished and so complicated that it is hard to understand even to an educated person. If Enlace Venezuela' is inviting us to construct a vision together, it should make it simplier. Their use of such language was no surprise to me. I know most of Enlace Venezuela' bloggers from the university, we shared the same off- curricula activities and without doubt, they are among the best of their cohorts. Most of them are already attending Harvard or other equally worldwide prestigious universities (while I'm struggling to enter at least a regular one). So I would tell them, privately and publically here, you have nothing to prove. We know you are smart, comitted, and filled with outrageous ideas. I know most of you are also fun, easy going, politically oriented and worried about reaching a higher audience; so show me that side.
Fortunately, the latest entry shows a more plain use of the language. Not to mention it really touches a nerve in my generation (and probably many others). The post is about the lack of orientation high school graduates recieve; and how, Venezuelan' system demands them to choose without basis nor information, the career they are going to be stuck with for the rest of their lives; all at the tender age of 17. It's not a priority - we Venezuelans, Third of Fourth world country have a lot more important issues to care about: poverty, insecurity, Human Rights, household, health.... you name it. But there are a lot of people out there, just wasting productive time while finding something they want; or spending five years or more getting a degree they won't ever practice. And without properly motivated human capital, how do we address the rest of the issues?
I was, like most, 17 when I got my high school diploma. A sick childhood filled with surgeries, doctors visits and medical exams; made me think, as a teenager, that it was my destiny to become a doctor. My GPA was not high enough. So I studied like crazy during my two last highschool years for the medicine entrance exam (there is only one medicine school in my city) which demanded deep knowledge on math, chemistry, biology and physics. I was waitlisted with fewer hopes as days passed by of finally getting in.
My father - worried about me wasting a year of my life- encouraged me to apply somewhere else, to pursue another career while I was giving a second shot to my doctor' dream. I present the exam required to enter UCAB my alma mater. I choose a career randomly out of a brochure. In a few months I was starting a career of whom I had no clue of what it was about. After a while, I started to like professors, classmates and classes quite enough to stay; or maybe I was just feeling lazy to knock on Medicine school' doors all over again.
Five years later I finished all coursework required. A year and a half after that - thank you, horrible thesis - I graduate. People believe me to be very talented and suitable for my field. But what they don't know is that I have struggled greatly to find a job and still haven't found one that suits me. I do not dominate my field entirely to be competitive; I feel only inspired by one part of it. I have all my hopes put in a future graduate school admission that will focus all my energy in this particular part of my field; and from there, I might finally shine.
But in the meantime I often think that, if I had had at 17, more time to make an informed decision, I might have choosen differently, or I might have drawn a career path differently.
It is only when are truly working on what you were made for, that you are able to be productive, and thus become a greater contributor for society.
So I'm glad Enlace Venezuela' people are thinking about health, poverty, insecurity, economics etc etc etc. But I'm also glad they are also thinking even beyond that. I'm also glad that most of them, even abroad, are thinking about home. Probably some of them will be offered great opportunities abroad and they will not come back. But the fact they are at least hoping to do it, is somehow heartening.