Education & Work for Life

In most Western countries, in addition to the subjects normally taught elsewhere, learning a language of a foreign country, learning to play a musical instrument & active participation in a sport are mandatory in School stage, without which higher education in College is inaccessible. This obviously results in a well rounded human being, which is the purpose of education. It is assumed that the students retain their interest in these co-curricular activities throughout their life, irrespective of their chosen profession, becoming in the process, well-informed citizens.

A corollary of the above system of education is the 8 hour working day. Though it was in vogue in 16th Century Spain, it was Robert Owen, a visionary  Welsh textile mill owner, who tried to universalise it in the early 19th Century. His idea was that each day should be divided into 3 equal parts for work, sleep & recreation for human workers.

Sadly in this 21st Century, ignorant politicians & industry leaders are talking glibly about 14-16 hour working days. They may be unaware of Tolstoy's story "How much land does a man need" where a greedy man worked himself to death to get more land. Also George Bernard Shaw writes in his "Intelligent Woman's Guide" that slaves were worked so that they expired after 7 years. The reason being that if they died soon after purchase, the owner would lose his investment. And if they lived longer than 7 years, they would not be as productive as a new slave!

Another lobby argues the 8 hour day limit was for manual labour & does not apply for white collar jobs. This is patently untrue as mental labour is more exhausting than physical labour. Creative writing of Code, which employs many educated  people now, is intensely exhausting. Medical professionals work in a highly stressed "life or death" situations. If they are over-worked, their mistakes may be fatal.

Noted thinker Bertrand Russel & Designer William Morris (both highly productive men!) also held similar views. To return to work only after a minimum of 16 hours off each day, should be enshrined as a Human Right under the Constitution. To conclude, it should be remembered that one works to live & not live to work!