| Career blues |
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Today, educational levels are replacing class structures as the significant vertical stratification of society. Possibly- and this may be the hardest in the next 50 years - we may even discover how to preserve and enhance the self-respect of those who fall far behind in the education race. |
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-- Max Ways |
"Darling, our kid will become an engineer," gushes a mother. "No, a Doctor. It's a more respectable profession," remarks the father-to-be.
The child, yet to be born, already has a handicap -- the expectation of the parents. It grows up, mired in the dread of either falling short of expectations or risking an offbeat, 'less lucrative' path. The lack of exposure to other options weakens his judgment about his aptitude and inclination for them. And then, the D-day arrives. "I expected more from you, how will I face the people?" rues the dad. "But, dad, I want to do something different," reasons the kid.
Accusations and counter-accusations follow and there is a sense of dejection. It can even cause the student to contemplate suicide, as in the case of Shraya (name changed). "I reached the beach with suicide on my mind, but the waves crashing madly around me made me think, they crash every time they meet a hurdle yet keep coming back, why not me?" |
But, not everybody is so lucky. It's that time of the year when youngsters are faced with the dilemma of tracing their own path or jumping on the bandwagon. Making a choice is difficult, indeed.
As Meena Kumari, a fourth year student at Medical College, agrees, "I got here by making a split-second decision to choose the second group in pre-degree, the only reason being my performing better in biology than mathematics. My decision was not off the mark, after all, but as a student we hardly find time to gauge our interests."
V. Kanchana, seventh semester student at CET, expresses similar thoughts. "It's because we follow an averaging system. A student is considered good if he can excel in all the subjects equally up to the 10th standard level, and if he is brilliant, it's but natural that he should pursue engineering or medicine. These degrees have some kind of an `I'm an elite' stamp."
"The entrance examinations do not serve as a sieve for students with the right aptitude for the course; they are more often a determinant of the `stuffing factor' and perseverance," Kanchana adds. "As many of the people who have an idea of this process will agree, the reservation policy, while opening up vistas for the economically under-privileged, also opens up the Pandora's box. Meritorious students are overtaken by those in the reservation list and those in the reservation list are forced by their parents to take up these courses, whether they have a liking for it or not." |
"The Chartered Accountants' course doesn't have reservation at any level of study," says Jayanti, a Chartered Accountant (CA) employed with the English Indian Clays. Her husband, S. Gyanasekhar, adds, "Only a person with real hard work and aptitude can make it here." He dropped out on a plausible electrical engineering career to become a CA. Such people, however, are rare in society and they are consistently labelled `failures' till they prove themselves.
We all revere the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, A.R Rahman and Lata Mangeshkar; they have become great because of their no-nonsense attitude towards the unconventional fields of their interests. But why, when it comes to us, nearer home, do we find year after year that the crème de la crème prefers to move with the crowd? "Maybe, because people think that the future of their kids is secure once they take up these courses," says Jayanti. "Moreover, these courses have become accessible to the common man through tuition centres and increasing number of seats," says Meena.
We are creating two breeds of students - one on expectation and the other on dissatisfaction and both have a sense of disbelonging to the society that gives rise to such feelings in them. But daredevilry is not dead.
A case in instance is Shirin V. Sundar, daughter of a couple who are both doctors. Shirin forfeited her seat in Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, to pursue her interest in research at BITS, Pilani. Currently doing her doctorate in the U.S., she has never once regretted her decision. But even she agrees that all this would not have been possible without the support of her parents who never encroached on her right to make decisions about her career.
originally published in The Hindu http://hindujobs.com/thehindu/mp/2002/08/26/stories/2002082601160100.htm |