Quote:
Originally Posted by if_i_may_say_so
Recently, a discussion with my friend entailed a conclusion that one's pay is inversely proportional to one's intellect.
How else do you explain that a journalist earns way less than say, someone in the property arena? Being a doctor / lawyer doesn't necessarily translate into a fat pay cheque as well as I see some of my peers struggling in these vocations. Granted there are peers who are registrars or hold positions in the Law Society, they are but a few.
My friends are mostly scholars and they don't earn as much as one would have expected them to, especially those in SPH. (We're talking about being educated in LSE, Cambridge, etc)
It's especially disheartening to note that we've been indoctrinated with the value of education and how being part of the academic elite would pay off in the future only to realise that some Ah Beng delving in property can easily earn more than the purported elites in education.
I am a prime example of this disparity. My intelligence ranks way above my partner but he's drawing close to twice my income with a 6-figure salary. Both of us are not civil servants.
We live in a prime district condominium and he is driving an Audi coupe. (I can't drive.)
It frustrates me immensely that having intelligence results in nought. Being able to partake in debates and charm in argumentative essays are skills that don't translate into huge dollops of money. As for the peers who have leapfrogged into the million-dollar annual salary range, they are primarily lawyers with connections or are lucky to be born into a family of wealth (CEO of MNC, family with a string of law firms, etc).
I wasn't born into poverty. I was of an upper-middle class breed. My family had political connections and friends. Relatives were somebodies in various industries. I have two properties to be inherited. But to me, that isn't my trumpet to blow. Those were not earned under my watch. An inheritance says nothing about the purpose of your existence. It doesn't count in my basket. One should not hang up one's laurels and wait for someone to die in order to live on that sum of money. That said, having pride and being independent has resulted in drawing a lower salary than someone who is a yes-man.
I apologize if I do seem to be ranting and appear to be digressing from the thread but this disparity is just not right. While I'm cheering on those who have fallen from the academic path and admire their success in alternative avenues, I cannot help but feel that those, like us, who have invested wholly in our education have been misled.
Please feel free to engage in a meaningful discussion but kindly refrain from simply name-calling. It's rude and uncouth. Appreciate it. Thank you. |
Being able to do well in education is a function of IQ, but to be able to make mega bucks is a function of EQ, luck...ok it is a sweeping statement but you know what i mean
I think it is a tad too presumptious to equate academic success to financial success. It is a line of argument used frequently by Asian parents to motivate their children. After all having academic success is like giving you a headstart in the race, but in a marathon there are many factors that come into play.
One could be risk averse and choose to take the well trodden path (read: join a MNC and toe the line) and if you are lucky you will be paid reasonably but you will not be rich. Alternatively join the civil service, qualify for the elite Admin service and you are set for life
Or like some my friends who are less inclined academically, but their EQ, risk appetite, motivation have seen them starting their own business and growing it to sizeable enterprise and making amounts way above what their batch boys are raking in.
I think you are coming from the angle why there are jobs that pays much more but does not seem to require that much intellect.....yes its unfair but hey its life. Compare a nuclear physicist to a property agent, you probably need an IQ of 150 to be a nuclear scientist but a property agent might not even be able to add properly and the nuclear scientist might not be able to make it as a property agent...Look at the responsibility of a production manager in an industrial facility vs a trader. A wrong decision from the production manager could result in loss of lives while a wrong decision from a trader is just $$$$, but who is paid more? The reason is ....at the end of the day who makes more money for the company.