S’poreans must take pride in improving their craft

It can be easy to interpret the remarks made in “‘Skills, not degrees, at a premium now’” (May 9) simplistically as being that a university qualification is not important, given that it is a shared aim among people.

Objectively speaking, however, the need to develop skills is especially pertinent, with technology permeating our working society.

The message is that one should transcend the mindset that construes a degree as a mere instrumental means, when it is merely the end of tertiary education but, significantly, the start of one’s journey into lifelong learning.

The need to constantly learn and improve one’s craft can be seen in the book The Craftsman, by New York University professor Richard Sennett, who espouses the view that “craftsmen take pride most in skills that mature”.

“This is why simple imitation is not a sustaining satisfaction; the skill has to evolve,” he writes.

In a similar vein, the Prime Minister, at the May Day Rally, lauded bookbinding company Bynd Artisan, whose roots date back to 1942, for adapting to society’s needs by reinventing its business model, ensuring that bookbinding survives as an enterprise.

Evidently, the impetus for improving craftsmanship here was survivability. In Prof Sennett’s book, however, a craftsman is more than an artisan: “He or she represents in each of us the desire to do something well, concretely, for its own sake.”

This may prove to be less of a motivational struggle.

As we look to distinguish ourselves from robots, algorithms and advanced technology, competition is bound to be rife among the increasing graduate population.

Concerns regarding this glut, in multifarious aspects, are valid insofar as supply exceeds demand and thus it may seem futile to discuss the value of craftsmanship without having a job in the first place.

In the light of such a mindset, one must first have faith in one’s capacities.

As the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way, or in Latin, “aut viam inveniam aut faciam”.

While we cannot control the forces of circumstance or the vagaries of change, we can adapt and emulate the ethos of craftsmanship to ride the waves of change instead of being inundated.