As
I stepped out of my office building, having walked a yard or two towards the
gate, I saw a well dressed young boy coming towards me. Despite my thinking
wires drawing numerous connections during those few seconds, I failed to
recognize him. “I saw you; you were the commentator for the cricket match the
other day” he said, almost startling me. The little apprehension that I had
built up by then eased and I smiled to say “yes it was for the cricket match
held on the occasion of World Hemophilia Day”.
Just when I
thought he was there to tell me that he liked the event or that I did a good
job, almost instantaneously he said “I want to talk like you, to impress
people; to ‘mute’ the smart guys in my group; I don’t have a problem with
English but I want to speak fluently when in front of a group”. What he said
was interjected with almost a score of filler word ‘like’.
“May I know your
name” I asked him. He was a fifth semester MBBS student of Kasturba Medical
College, Manipal who hailed from Uttar Pradesh. For the purpose of anonymity
let us call him Kumar. For the next five minutes or so, Kumar told me that he
has been trying hard himself to be a better speaker, that he has read Dale
Carnegie’s book on public speaking, that he has no difficulty in grasping
English, and yet again he mentioned that he wishes to ‘mute’ all those boys who
can speak fluently and have their way despite lacking in content.
The peer
pressure to be impressing, to speak fluent, to outsmart was clearly weighing
heavily on Kumar. So much so that he appeared forlorn, depressive, hyperactive,
all at the same time. To those whom public speaking comes naturally will never
understand Kumar’s predicament. Beneath the dilemmas he was facing is the issue
of expressing oneself and in a manner that is in vogue; the issue of having
self confidence; and a basic aspect of human existence – the issue of
communication.
Feeling deeply
concerned, the first thing I suggested him was to try to stop thinking that he
should learn skills of public speaking just to prove a point to his peers.
Clearly he has been feeling inferior owing to his lack of communication skills.
I told him he was not a bad communicator, for he was actually doing it well and
effectively. But he aimed for the ‘flair’. I told him my story of how from
being a shy and silent boy, with absolutely no public speaking skills, I could
bring myself to a point where Kumar took notice.
I shared with
Kumar what I felt were the key changes that transformed me. I will be glad if
it would help him. But it is not about Kumar alone. It is not about his lacunae.
It is about him and of his ilk that face such issues. Admission to a
professional course, medicine in his case, is a matter of pride and tremendous
opportunity. Our education systems would probably churn out a professional in
four or five year’s time. But what are these systems doing to address the
problem like that of Kumar’s?
In case of a
private medical college, the students joining come from various backgrounds, public
schools, international schools, state boards, etc., Though the curricular
content is standardized, it is expected from the young individual to ‘pick up’
rest of the skills in their journey to their degrees, communication skills
included. Is it prudent to shrug the responsibility to provide opportunities so
that everyone receives a fair chance to be at par? Is not it important to
impart soft skills education and training in a professional course?
But let us take
public speaking as the case in point, the point that matters Kumar enormously.
It will be agreed upon that like other skills, it needs some amount of
training. While its implications for a medicine professional are direct and
plenty - be it explaining a patient’s condition to his family, presenting a
research paper in a conference, in a classroom both small and large, debating
efficacy of a medicine with a panel, delivering a keynote address, appearing
for promotion interview, or in case the doctor decides to become a politician;
nothing is done in order to impart this skill.
The onus is on
educators to introduce communication skills, public speaking included, to the young individuals who would definitely enjoy learning it as
it would help in expressing themselves, in boosting their self confidence, in
being presentable, in bringing clarity of thought, in being impressive in what
they speak, or in the case of Kumar to at least feel confident among his peers.
Perhaps it is time to give due importance to all those skills which address
communication conundrums.
