(Part – 2 Career Choice)
By Dr. Kavita R Shanmughan.
I am thankful for the valuable feedbacks that have come from many of you on my previous published article on a teachers’ role in career selection process. Conceivably many of you also opined on the need for parents and society’s role in building youths’ career. My today’s post will deliberate on parental role in youths’ career selection process.
Parents’ play a vital role in the child development. They influence the child from a very nascent stage on facets like behaviors, moral values and attitudes. It’s very commonly seen that the parents often tend to inculcate in the child the profession that they want them to pursue. Somewhere it is an unfulfilled desire that they could not accomplish which is pass on to the child. Career choice is not just about listing the profession’s name but it is evaluating the fitment of the work interest to personality, skills, knowledge and attitude required to perform the job role.
World’s work environment is continuously changing with enough opportunities in every given field. Yet Doctors and engineers were and are, considered as a profession of high value and status in the society. I have no intentions to devalue both these professions but it seems that there are no other profession left to the youth. Two-third of the students in 10th standard aims to get admission in science stream and also they are tuned to compete for various competitive exams like NEET, KVPY, GATE etc. from class 6th onwards by enrolling them to various coaching centers. The question here arise is why a parent wants to see their child only becoming a doctor or an engineer? The answer is simple, this professions can generate earning 24/7, respected as intellects among others, and considered to be high in demand. As per a recent global aspiration survey, a staggering 26% Indian students aspires to be a software engineer, followed by 23% a doctor, and 20% an engineer. Humanities, Business, Defense, etc. shares the remaining percentage which is negligible in size.
Parents need to understand that to be successful in any job be it a doctor, engineer, dancer, teacher, sculptor, architect, artist, actor, mason, carpenter, etc. demands dedication and commitment. This dedication sprouts out of interest and skills that an individual possess. It is proven, those who demonstrate sincerity and dedication towards the job, supplemented with required knowledge, skills, and attitude gets the limelight and this dedication and sincerity comes only if you are interested doing what you are doing again-and-again. Surprisingly, In India, if a sportsman, dancer, singer do well people praise them but yet would not like their child to take this profession as a career choice. What is more important, is to shift the emphasis to the roles-&-responsibilities and interests that a job requires than looking on only two sub-factors that is money and status in the society.
We must not overlook the fact that many students’ turns to substance abuse, depression, or take up the extreme steps due to the intense psychological pressures because of imposed career choices. In recent years Kota alone had a disappointing number of 56 suicides committed by the students who were preparing for IITs and other premier institutes. No wonder the number may surprisingly be high if we consider the whole of India. This unfortunate journey starts when we as a parent start pushing our child to take a career path which they are not willing to.
As a psychologists, I recommend the parents to understand their child’s interest rather levy their desires on them. Parents should assist them in acquiring the skills required for performing effectively. Facilitate to identify the child’s preferred career options which is in line with their innate personality by using a scientific and standardized psychological tool and come out with a list of possible options where child’s success ratio is strong. Also parents mustn’t fall prey to myths about science alone being a choicest of streams. One such myth is if the child scored high in class 10th he is meant to take science related career only, humanities and commerce is only for average or below average students, and the list of such myths go on endlessly.
As a parent, accept that every individual is unique, it is needless to compare your child to others. Look what is good in your child and where his/ her interest lies in. Do not give importance to what your neighborhood or social-circle says about the profession. Their views may be influenced by money, authority, glamour that they enjoy and not necessary that your child is also excited about the same. Further, do not feel inferior when you have to talk about your child’s career choice if it is not a doctor or engineer. An appreciation from the family can build confidence in the child to do best in life and career. Our role as a parent should be to motivate our child to deal with small challenges, explore the interest areas, learn new skills and support them for productive things they enjoy doing from the formative age itself. Of-course being financially stable is important for leading a contended life but self-actualization is equally essential. Parents must clearly differentiate between the child’s short-term temptations and intrinsic demonstrated choices, and support the child in their career development process in a right way. They must recognize and make their child understands the roles, responsibilities, hardships, challenges, expected outcomes that’s involved in the career options selected by him.
P.V Sindhu, Remo D’Souza, Capt. Gopinath are just to name few who are not a doctor or engineer and yet have made their career because they were determined, aware of their skills and are working relentlessly to unleash their potential.
Today, in Andaman we have only handful of psychologist who can support the parents and the child in their state of confusion about the best career choices. I would be glad to support such individuals by assisting them clarify their area of concerns. I am organizing a workshop on Career Development in the month of October and inviting the parents and youths who would like to participate. The session will cover exploring the career interest, skills and attitude and resume building. If interested, you can write at kavita.shanmughan@gmail.com or call me @ +91 9531856481 to register.
