We have reached that time of year when we await monsoons and exam results, both with a similar dreaded sense of anticipation. Well, the summer does not give respite and for some, neither do the results. It’s the long awaited suspense that either bears good news or seems to crush all hopes for a bright future.
‘Expectation’ can be an ugly word, especially when it is filled with anxiety. For many youngsters, above 80 percent implies head held high and for others it’s a head hanger. It’s ironic how results affect so many young people and their perception of life. For them their family pride, their own sense of self, seems to rest on this important lifesaving percentage
Achievement is part of motivation, but the end result does not correlate with expectations or benefit. We fail to see the larger picture and children work hard towards the result goal rather then the process of education itself.
Speak to a 16 year old and ask them what they want to do in life and they will in most probability discuss with you the percentage they plan to achieve at their boards or they may even discuss with you the choice of subject they wish to pursue but ask them about the career they may want to pursue or how they see themselves in ten years from now, they have no idea.
Rightly so. Are they too young to know what to expect from life?
In my profession of pedagogy I have the experience of youngsters choosing educational steams depending upon their marks rather than interest. With no previous exposure to explore a possible future they have no idea how to explore inwards or their possible future life outwards.
Students choose their streams falling back on their marks as indicators of what they want from life and with little or no personal awareness about the career they might enjoy. Science, commerce and arts are streams into which they bifurcate. The present educational system is such that the choice is made soon after their tenth exams (around 16 years). With such strict preferences one would expect some input given to the student in making their subject choice. Unfortunately our education system has blinders on them giving students very little choice as to explore their potentials.
Higher educational choice should focus and give youngsters the opportunity of time and space for actively reflecting on their own future. A possible future career begins with a starting point of exploring, questioning and understanding their own interest and talents.
When should a child know? Ideally this journey should begin sometimes around eight, ninth and tenth standards so that students can then choose their streams accordingly.
Choosing an appropriate career paths is perhaps the most important decision of one’s life. It is important to think out the goals ones would attempt to achieve rather than settling for what comes on the way.
With technology advancements and developments, new career realities are different today than they used to be in the past. Careers today can focus on individual competency and youth can be educated to take responsibility for their own career development. The focus of new career responsibility is on three areas of knowing: Knowing -why (why do we do a job), knowing “how (how do we do a job) and knowing - whom (whom do we work with).
A desire to enter into any profession requires us to take steps in understanding the forces and dynamics that shape careers. Self-realization thus goes hand in hand with career choice. Helping youngsters understanding their own strengths and weakness goes along way into creating awareness of the possible career opportunities that lie ahead.
Adolescent occupational choice is influenced by many factors like family, parents, peers, society, and government policy and sometimes even teacher temperament. This trajectories require to be guided and discussed if the influence has to be proactive.
Some techniques parents can adopt include maintaining a career journal for your children in which they regularly fill out the things that they might like to do when they grow up. This could begin even earlier than ten years of age. It gives the child a mindset of aligning their interest to their future. At a later stage exposing them to careers of interest through meeting people in similar professions or visiting their office space or job site is also beneficial as this gives them a sense of expectations.
Careers based on marks never helped. Schools don’t test interest of students instead they simply test academic proficiency. Academic proficiency should not be the only basis for career choice. Areas of interest instead is a better bet. In contemporary times, hobbies can make careers if the youngster is properly guided. We often coax our children to take the safest step forward and give little heed how this would affect their future. Their future is not arts, science or commerce. Their future is living a life which is in balance with what they like doing and not having the sense that they are living a rat race.
We have heard it time and again, that people with passion can change the world. So what stops us form being passionate. Passion is not created it is discovered.
