Who Should Decide a Student’s Career Choice? Parents’ Diktat or Self-Calling?
Kung Fu Panda: Po’s father wants Po to give up his dream of becoming a Kung Fu warrior and work in his noodle restaurant. The villagers, Master Shifu and the Furious Five (Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane), ridicule him for his rotund frame, except Grand Master Oogway (the wise and old tortoise). But, Po believes in himself, trains harder and defeats the evil Tai Lung (Leopard). Po finally becomes an inspiration for all the villagers.
3 Idiots: Remember the dialogue where Farhan says in the background, “1978… I was born at 5.15pm… At 5.16pm, my father announced, ‘My son will be an Engineer. Farhan Qureshi, B. Tech, Engineer.’… And my fate was sealed… What I wanted to be… no one asked.” Thus, Farhan Qureshi, who aspires to be a wildlife photographer, joins engineering due to his father’s wishes and struggles to get good grades.
Dangal: Mahavir Singh Phogat is forced by his father to give up wrestling in order to get gainful employment. Dejected that he could not win a gold medal for his country, he vows that his son will.
Such instances happen in most of the Indian families. Parents direct their children towards a career of their own choice rather than letting the children make a choice. The parents see children as vehicles to their unfulfilled dreams. They try to fulfil their own ambitions (of becoming/achieving something that they could not during their times) through their children. Or rather are of the opinion that the children cannot make a good career decision on their own, and hence they are only helping their children in making a better choice. But, in the process, parents impose their own career choices on their children giving no option to the children’s interests or their abilities and talent.
During 1970s and 1980s, most of the students were directed towards acquiring government jobs. In the 1990s, it was engineering (Exhibit I). In the late 1990s, it was software and the 2000s saw a rise in demand for management courses. And the future might see students rushing towards being data scientists/analysts.
The trend started in the 1990s, when parents would force their kids towards studying engineering (and some into medicine), as if these were the only career options available. If this was not achieved by the kids, then the parent would start rambling about how others’ kids were focused on their careers and theirs’ are not, and what the society would talk about their family, and so on........
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Why Indian Kids are Taking up Engineering and Medicine
Exhibit II: Top 10 Courses after Class 12th in India
Exhibit III: List of Highest Paying Jobs in India
Exhibit IV: 13 Interesting and Off-Beat Courses Offered by Indian Universities
