To most readers, the direction this essay is going to take must be self-evident from the title. I am going to talk about how the concept of the checkbox and the red flag has devolved during the course of my 21 years here in USA. So now that I have stated the premise of the article, all I have left to do is lay down the specific incidents in my life that make me feel so. Then I will leave it to the reader to interpret the incidents. And if the reader decides to present his opinion one way or the other, this article will evolve into a conversation, right?
Back in 1993, I was a struggling student in Boston with one cold 1992 winter, a semester of courses with 7:30 am classes, and a GPA that had dipped to 2.92 under my belt. Buried under these details were stresses that accompany settling into a new culture while carrying "emotional baggage" from India. As a result, I lost the grant that was funding my coursework. Needless to say, I had landed myself in a messy academic and financial situation.
The only silver lining in all this mess was that the University accounting department did not realize that my funding had ended, and allowed me to sign up for courses for another semester. One the one hand, I could not believe my luck, and on the other, I could not make head nor tail about what I would achieve by taking courses when everything else seemed to be heading downhill. It was like being on the roof deck of the Titanic, waiting for it to sink. I humored myself, took the two courses and after some trials and tribulations, managed to pull up my grades. The semester ended, and one fine day, I got a call from the dean of student affairs. Now I knew the axe had fallen. But I humored myself...
"Prateek, do you realize you have not paid for the two courses you took last semester?", there was sternness in his voice.
"Yes I do, Sir." I humored myself...
"You seem to have done pretty well in them... How do you intend to pay for them?"
"I have credit cards..." Now I was clearly humoring him and myself...
He was pensive for about half a minute, and then he uttered "Would you mind if I arrange for the school to pay for them?"
What??? This couldn't be happening! Could that really happen? I was in such delirium as I walked out of his office! Nothing was making sense again...
My second experience was an article I read in 2010. It was about how a hospital in Canada had become world-renowned just by implementing check-lists in all its surgery procedures it conducted. It was conducting countless surgeries a day with 100% success rate, and it attributed it to implementing the check-list policy.
My third experience was a recent conversation with a recruiter.
"Sir, what have you been doing in the last six months?"
"Interviewing..."
"You have such an impressive resume otherwise. If the employer sees this gap, it is going to raise a red flag! Can you please describe any projects you took up in the last few months. Just think of it as a check-box we have to mark off"
I will not elaborate on how I responded, because by doing so, I will be giving the reader my answer to the question I am hoping the reader will answer. But, like me, do you see a pattern across these three incidents?