“Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those that you set upon yourself”—Roy T. Bennet
The younger generation sometimes appears quite helpless as to adopting career paths or choosing its future livelihood source. This kind of frustration can be mentally and physically damaging especially when the young ones are unable to see light at the end of the tunnel. For many, childhood ambitions mostly remain just dreams because there were always a few who would block their ways on one pretext or the other. For some it is more a matter of adopting the family profession or business. For some, careers are picked by the elders and thrusted in a way that they are forced to undertake, whether they like it or not.
Grown-ups take it for granted that children do not have the experience or the intelligence to decide their own future. Consequently, they thrust their own will upon them. Lawyers and doctors, for example would want their children to adopt their professions so they can leave their office or clinic and clients as legacies. On the same pattern, industrialists and traders prefer that their kids follow in their footsteps so that there is continuity of businesses established by them. Keeping good intentions aside, is there not a streak of selfishness apparent in these aspirations?
What if a child is least interested in legal jargons and preferring to spend her time in literary pursuits? What if the doctor’s son is more attracted to the fine arts and has no inclination to study biology? What if the daughter wants to become a pilot, but the parents want to marry her off knowing very well that she has no aptitude for domestic chores? What if the trader’s child is desirous of taking up teaching as a profession rather than shop-keeping? Due to social pressures a number of children might sacrifice their own ambitions on the altar of their parents’ wishes but not without an uneasiness that would remain like a thorn in their hearts. Conversely, there are chances that they may rebel, leave their families or worse, escape into the world of drugs and make-believe. Those who do not have the courage to do either can end up in asylums.
Educational institutions, too, are not exactly geared to cater to the diverse interests of individuals as they merely impart a stereotype curriculum. There is no concept of separating children with certain similar qualities into groups requiring special training for pursuing specific future careers. Colleges and universities too have their fixed syllabus with no coordination with industries as to their requirements for experts in areas they may need. Even high end institutes just teach foreign cases that have hardly any relevance with local ground realities. In short, the education being imparted to the huge population of youngsters is quite directionless. To make matters worse, there are no guidance centres or councilors to assist the youth to find their career paths.
A quick look over the last fifty years would reveal that most of the time, people were engaged in a rat race whereby the most popular professions that paid well were pursued, irrespective of whether there was or was not any aptitude. Check out the large number of highly qualified medical doctors, engineers, economists and accountants entering government service through competitive exams just because it became the ‘in’ thing at one moment of time. What was the point in wasting time and seats in studying specialized subjects if these were not to be practically adopted?
Natural abilities and talents are overlooked because of which children are unable to follow their passions. Elders in the family usually ignore their young ones’ true potential, compelling them to take on a career that they think is socially more acceptable and brings them a ‘good’ name. It is generally understood that one’s hobby turns out to be the best profession as it gives both pleasure and income but again, many a times children’s hobbies seem unacceptable, especially if these are intended to convert into their professions.
However, times have changed and the new generation of parents is becoming more sentient about the needs and desires of their offspring. Besides, the advent of the new century has gradually obliterated stigmas attached to different vocations enabling humans to adopt them without suffering from any artificial guilt. Nonetheless, it is important to understand that whatever maybe the future source of income, young ones must be advised, guided and led to their career paths that can prove worthwhile. They should be offered reasonable choices that can best utilize their talents. If not the home then schools, colleges and universities should be well equipped to provide such counseling.
Most of the time poor financial conditions prevailing in homes prevent children from pursuing their choice occupations because these involve unaffordable funding. Unfortunately, there are few avenues from where students can obtain loans. Public institutions and banks, particularly the private institutions, refrain from extending soft loans to develop human resource or finance small and medium enterprises. Considering the number of aspiring youths, scholarships are also limited to those who can manage to cut across bureaucratic obstacles.
Another big hurdle in pursuing a professional option is the fear of failure which is by the way, quite a normal human characteristic. The problem arises when this fear forces a person to make wrong decisions or to desist from trying again.
In the words of B.F. Skinner “A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.” Younger people are perhaps impatient and want immediate and positive results but they should be advised to be more practical and persevering in order to achieve success.
Last, but definitely not the least, without developing adequate skills, it is never possible to excel in any field, whether it is by choice or by compulsion. A handful of degrees can hardly be useful if the underlying expertise is missing. Those interested in achieving a mark must focus on their abilities so that they become the choice of their employers or where they are working independently, can realize their dreams.