Post
by eriksank » Thu May 21, 2015 11:37 pm
The mismatch between market demand and what the students like to study, is certainly not uniquely Cambodian. I feel, however, that the measures taken are a bit heavy-handed. The government may want to stay clear of telling people what they should desire. If these people deeply desire all these wrong things, and if these people do not try to make the government pay for their mistakes, but are prepared to suffer the consequences by themselves, they should be free to do so.
Aside from that, management is a particularly bad subject choice. You see, subjects like math, science, or even history are valid academic pursuits because at least they teach the students a method. Especially the scientific method has become famous: Statements are scientific, if it is possible to set up an experiments to look for counterexamples that will falsify the statement. The mathematical method is considered even more solid: A statement is mathematically proven if all untruth in it can only be the result of the untruth in the underlying statements to which it has been entirely reduced. It is very similar to the historical method: A historical statement may not contain original research, as there must be at least one written source that claims it.
A valid academic study is a lengthy exercise in practising a particular method. There is, however, no generally-accepted method in existence for the subject of "management". It is not systematic. It is quite lacking in that respect. It is therefore simply not valid as an academic subject. Of course, it is not because a subject is valid for academic studies that it would also be particularly useful for finding gainful employment. Such subject could still perfectly well be useless. Indeed, as the Ministry correctly points out, the subject of "management" is both invalid as well as useless.