Muhammad Yunus on Education

I read a very insightful interview of Nobel Laureate Md Yunus at the Wharton Knowledge center recently.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2243.

This part was specially beautiful:

So in almost every single public university, public medical school and engineering school, there are Grameen children who are studying there as well. A whole wave of new children is going into that. When I meet them, they will always discuss [one] issue, which is that they worry about getting a job. They say: "After we finish our [education], can you help us find jobs?"

How am I going to find jobs for them? So I started thinking about it. I had the idea that maybe they shouldn't be thinking about jobs. We tell them: Look, you are children from Grameen families. You are Grameen children. Your thinking should be different than other children's. Other people, other children -- they worry about jobs. You shouldn't be worrying about this. You should take a pledge and repeat this pledge every morning you wake up. And your pledge is: I shall never seek a job from anybody. I'll create jobs. This is my mission.

So you are not job seekers. You are job givers. Think in those terms because your mother -- you're the first generation child -- your mother owns a bank. Not many children have that fortune. You have that fortune. Your mother's bank has an enormous amount of money. Money is not your problem. Your problem is what to do with your money.

Then, if you feel frustrated [because] you cannot come up with an idea, think about your mother and what she did. She didn't wait for anybody. She took the money and went into business herself. She's an illiterate woman. Along the way she was successful step-by-step. She went on and sent you to school. Now you're in higher education with her bank. And what good is your education if you cannot do better than your mother? If she can do it, you can do much better. That's the thing that you have to prove to yourself -- that your mother gave you a chance and you will make use of it.