Back to school

After graduating from college four years ago, im back in school for a masteral degree. It was quite a major decision for me since i still have that job offer in malaysia. After thinking hard about it, in the end, I chose to stay here -- where my home is, with my family, friends and loved ones.

Today was our first class for the subject on development of government managers. It was a whole day session since the class will only be held during weekends. We are only six in the class and I reckon that I am the youngest since my classmates are already veterans in the government service. When one of my older classmates said that it's better to pursue further studies while still young, I was glad that I made this choice.

Our instructor was a former congresswoman of our region. Being a politician herself, she was able to share her experiences in politics and so the discussion was very much interesting as we were able to get insights on what it was like to be in the government office, particularly in the top level positions.

We were discussing about what it takes to be a good leader and here is what she shared to us, based on her experience:

"It is not enough that a good leader possess knowledge or good education. What matters is the character of the leader. Without integrity, honesty and committment, a person cannot qualify to be a good leader."

Talking about the qualities of a good leader or politician, the topic on the lack of educational background of some politicians came up. Here's one funny anecdote she shared: When one of our actor-politicians was given a briefing about the works of the legislative body, he was shown of a sample of a bill by his staff. Guess what the actor-politician replied? He simply asked the staff, "How much is that?" It made me think, are these the kind of people that run our government? what kind of life and future will we have when they don't even know what a bill is?