(Before you read this post and many others dating before 2015, you will have to bear the paragraphs joined together. These posts are imported from blogger and no matter what I do, they just don’t do paragraphing. Sorry.)
I met someone new yesterday-a yoga instructor in Karachi. She must be probably in her mid forties. What she asked me was not something new though. Many people ask me the same, and I believe those are the people who cannot stand the fact that I could be successful without any qualification in this field.
I told the woman that I also practice yoga and once I tried teaching but couldn’t because people were difficult. She asked that where did I get my qualification from. I replied nowhere. She said that NO ONE COULD TEACH without qualification. Her conduct turned very rude while she changed her direction to others.
I smiled and changed my seat.
In Pakistan, people generally believe that qualification is a tool to impress others. Most of the people have failed to impress me and have rather disappointed me even though they were ‘QUALIFIED’. Just like this woman.
People ask me the same about my painting, designing and teaching skills. I do not have professional training in any of these. Therefore, once they find out about my ‘self-taught’ scenario, they mention that someone else is better than me because of his/her training. Many express that because I do not teach at school, I cannot be a good teacher.
Now, I am used to of such encounters. It is comical for me. And who doesn’t like a good humor.
But I want to ask. Is qualification mandatory in every field? I am a creative person and a self-taught professional. I learned through intense study, practice and studying researches performed earlier. I have decades of experience. I EVOLVE AND UPDATE MYSELF ON DAILY BASIS. I refuse to sit for an examination to prove my skill or myself. I AM CONFIDENT WITH MY SKILLS. Does this make me bad in my field? Am I UNQUALIFIED to be creative? Do I have ‘unqualified talent’?
Yoga started some thousands of years ago. Did the people require certificate of its training to enjoy it or teach it to others? If certificate is required to initiate yoga teaching because it has health risk factors if performed wrongly THEN do we need certificate for walking when we are one year old? Walking is the most dangerous skill if you think deeply. In Pakistan people even drive their cars without license. Is that OK? Did artists go to art schools five hundred years ago or just learned watching other great artists? Did Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vincior Thomas Edison have degrees? Do Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zukerberg have degrees?
Read what Paul Schmitz wrote on CNN http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/30/opinion/schmitz-college/
He said — A college degree can be an important gateway to employment, a career and a better standard of living. But a college degree does not equate to someone’s level of intelligence or talent. For those seeking the best workers or leaders, there is a plethora of intelligent, inventive people without degrees who should not be overlooked.
-“So a lot of talent goes unrecognized and undeveloped. And those without college degrees aren’t necessarily less driven or intelligent than those with degrees. Michael Ellsberg, author of “The Education of Millionaires,” argued in The New York Times recently that the skills of entrepreneurs are not learned “crouched over a desk studying for multiple-choice exams.”
If I am an intelligent woman and I evaluate the risks and benefits of everything with my common sense, and study and learn it to perform well and successfully, so I SHOULD I NOT be acknowledged just because I did not waste my time in acquiring a certificate?
Maybe I did not find the need to access my field of practice on a college campus learning its different arrays or dimensions. May be I believed that college could only teach techniques and give me grounds to involve those techniques into developing different levels of imagination. And maybe I did not need it. Maybe I did not require college enforced transformation. Maybe I did not find the need to discover my talent or myself through college training. Maybe I wanted to paint or teach what I felt like instead of been dictated.
But now I need to know that WHY my beliefs have started threatening others.
I am not challenging anyone who spends time in certification. Some fields do require degrees such as medicine, but I am not a believer that in a creative field one needs to prove her talent through a piece of paper. Art, dance, yoga, music, writing, poetry, editing, acting, singing, designing, animation and many other are those talents that one can have without learning, if smart enough. Actually, you do not even have to LEARN it; you are born with it. If you think you should have been better if had professional training, then go for it and explore further.
If you are talented enough and can make a successful living through your talent, and can bring good change in the world so DO YOU REALLY care if people would credit you more if you had a degree, diploma or certificate? Well. I DON’T!
If someone needs professional training, then please take BUT do not look down upon people who refused it boldly. I have seen people with multiple degrees and high level of professional training. Trust me I have found them useless on many levels. Extremely disappointing professionals who do not even have skills to present themselves well.
I am learning a 3D animation software Studio Max with a talented teacher these days. I decided to learn it from someone rather spending time on reading because I was running out of time. This teacher, Saim Rajput, is a self-taught person too. He does not have a qualification in this field but he is teaching at one of the top institutes in Pakistan and also in a university. He is a great teacher. So, here’s my point. Not everyone cares in the world if you have some qualification. As long as you are good, you are acknowledged by intelligent people.
Every time I write something like this, I get at least one comment online with anger and denial. I am sure this time someone will say, “Do you think you are equal to all those great people who invented without degrees and trainings?” Therefore, I tell you here, yes I am that good. I just do not reach out for fame much.
My art or talents might not match your taste, and I may not have a ‘QUALIFICATION’ but that does not mean I am not good. Maybe I also do not like what you do. DO you care?
Honestly, nothing people say will discourage me from what I do.
I am glad that I am more successful than many who are qualified.
à la prochain
au revoir!
My kids have degrees and qualifications, it's still difficult to find employment. Our economy is tanked.