Falling Into a 'NOT WORTH IT!' Love Cycle With a Subject?

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Falling Into a 'NOT WORTH IT!' Love Cycle With a Subject?

‘I am too scared of mathematics, so I am going to take humanities.’ OR ‘I want to be a doctor because I love biology.’ These are some of the lines that you can easily catch a 10 grader saying before he/she plunges into a particular academic stream. But is their choice of the subject actually their true love? Or is it a result of years of preconceived notions, parents’ expectations or peer pressure?

It loves me - it loves me not!

You know what exactly happens after you finish class 10 final exams? (No, we are not talking about the post-exam party.) Students hit a crossroad. Crossroads leading to different career streams. They face the dilemma of selecting the ‘just right’ stream for themselves. While few are very sure of what they want to do, many seek guidance and career counseling to ‘make an informed decision.’ And some of them (the brave lot) just take a blind plunge. So amid all the commotion, is there any place for the ‘love of the subject’?

Also Read: Medical vs Non-Medical: The never-ending struggle after Class 10

Many times students take up subjects based on the apparent job opportunities it may have for them in future. In this case, they may not like the subject but pull through it in the hope of getting a ‘good’ job in future. Hence, while their true love lies in ‘History’, they try their best to make it work with Physics leading to ‘friction’ in the learning process.

Science is in the air….

In India, science has always been regarded as the ‘safe’ option when it comes to selecting an academic stream. The yearning to secure a ‘settled’ career for the children sometimes makes the parents push their kids into science even if they lag the required aptitude for the same. Unless one is eyeing to take IAS exams after graduation. In this case humanities subjects become the ‘chosen one’. But can love for science ignite while studying Indian history, polity and geography?

Something like this happened with Vaibhav Vishal of Bihar. With a clear focus on IAS exams, Vaibhav ditched engineering exams to prepare for the same. However, he inculcated deep interest in science while studying the science and technology portion that comes under the syllabi for UPSC exams. What next? Vaibhav left his UPSC preparation, dropped a year and enrolled himself for engineering entrance exams instead. Result? Vaibhav Vishal became one of the 18 students to share rank 1 in the JEE Mains 2021!

Seems it was a match made in heaven for Vaibhav. But for students not too keen about science, do we really have enough options?

Looking beyond conventional options?

A recent survey conducted on Indian students revealed that over 90% of the students falling under the age group of 14 to 21 years knew of just seven career options to choose from. Now, let’s throw in some astonishing figures. Actually, there are more than 200 career options across 40 domains covering over 5000 job types that can be pursued in India. Surprised?

Way ahead!

Effective career planning is the need of the hour. Awareness about all the available options would surely give a new career canvas to Indian students where they can combine their creativity, knowledge and interest. For this, parents, well-informed career counselors and teachers need to join hands, quash the rigid conceptions and figure out the real ‘love’ of the child.

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Edited by

Urvashi Singhal

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Career Diaries