Today I read an article about the decline in the average intelligence quotient of Indonesians over the past few years. The article stated that the average intelligence quotient is now only eight points below that of a gorilla. Yes, a gorilla. In fact, it might even be a more noble creature, as it never destroys nature, having never been taught to do so.
Shortly after reading the article, my son, who is in his final year of undergraduate studies, suddenly approached me with a grumpy face. He asked if he could talk to me about something. Ugh, I get nervous when he says that. Usually, he’ll discuss something outside of his scope with me.
Seriously. So, my son is doing a remote internship at a company outside of Jakarta, with no financial compensation, of course. Before the internship, we, his parents, had informed him that there was an annual health checkup scheduled for a weekday this week. Last week, he requested “permission/leave” for that purpose. The coordinator requested all the documents proving the need. After submitting all the documents, he received a response to his request in the form of an automated email from the system stating: the application was rejected due to a violation of the rules. Oddly, the date of the violation was three days in the future from the date the email was sent (the violation date is in the future, not yet occurred). As a result of this “potential future violation,” my son was required to write a 15-page handwritten apology for violating the rules.
As an HR practitioner for 25 years, here are several elements that are quite surprising to me:
1. No leave/permission is allowed for interns who are not even paid in any form.
2. Requesting permission/permission is a violation.
3. The date of the offense/violation is in the future, not yet occurred.
So he was given a “sanction” for a crime that has not yet occurred. It’s like someone being punished for merely intending to embezzle state funds. That’s incredible. Punishment is already being imposed upon them just by intending to embezzle state budget funds. If that were the case in the real world, this country would be safe, peaceful, and prosperous.
Unfortunately, this is the corporate world, where best practices don’t follow the rules. After further investigation, it seems all the company/application equipment is run by interns, who lack sufficient knowledge, yet they are asked to create rules, systems, and processes that apply to their fellow interns. I don’t know who’s at fault here. Is it the high demand for student internships or is it the company’s indifference and unwillingness to take the trouble to place credible, real workers to manage the internship program.
What happened in the end? My son complied and wrote a 15-page apology letter. For him, and for us, his parents, the most important thing was that he received his internship certificate.
This clearly deviates from the primary goal of the internship program, which is to provide students with a better understanding of corporate life or real business activities.
So, what does this have to do with intelligence?
How can we expect an intelligent generation if the tools and systems that foster a climate of critical, logical, and professional thinking aren’t carefully considered? The concept is “as long as it’s there.” This kind of thing happens frequently in everyday life, where systems are built without reason.
So, the task of the older generation today is to start fostering intelligence and developing critical thinking from the smallest possible environment, namely the family.
