Dear Friends,
10th Standard is a defining moment for every Indian student. Once the Board exams are over, every student needs to decide on selecting a stream for him or her, which will form a base for his future career. Stream selection is a very cumbersome process. All students and parents are confused and in everybody's mind there is, this one question.
How did you select your Stream?
In fact many of us never selected our
stream or career. Our parents did that for us. They had decided what we should
study in our 11th grade and eventually that went on to become
our career. We were never asked or were given a choice to select our stream. This
was the scene predominant in majority of the families, as recent as 5 years
back and this had resulted in to a lot of stress, anxiety, sleepless nights,
nightmares, paper backlogs, ill health, heart burns for students, as well as
their parents which had led to a lot more complexities and had its
ramifications. It was not, that parent
wished so, but parents were over
protective about their children and always wanted to give their best. They
always wanted their children to succeed and settle down in their lives as early
as possible. Children were also not aware, what they were getting into. They
had different vision of their lives. They wanted to study something else but
were not sure whether their choice of stream would help them succeed in finding
a better job or a good career and because of the non-scientific decision making
there was lot of chaos in the lives.
For example: An Engineer, not by
choice but by circumstances. Somehow passed the course and completed his
degree, got a job. He would always look at the clock on the wall for 5.00 PM. He
is doing this 9.00 to 5.00 job for his survival and not because of his passion.
Obviously he is not happy, always stressful, added to the stress are his family
responsibilities, financial commitments etc., neither
he can leave the job nor he is left with the time to follow his passion. I hope
many of us could relate to these circumstances. For once I was never given a choice, it was my parents who decided my stream. Let’s not repeat the same
mistake with our children.
Some of the popular choice of
courses back then were streams broadly categorised like Engineering,
Medicine, Commerce or Humanities, even today families are choosing them
blindly except for very few well informed parents. Many of the parents feel 11th grade/class is not the right time to decide
the course or career options. But by the time they completes their 12th
grade/class, options will be limited and two valuable years would have been
gone. I feel it is in the 10th class, students should assess
themselves and take a right career choice and option. Sooner the better.
What are the current trends in
stream selection:
1. Blindly Following the Neighbors, Class Mates,
Relatives, Colleague’s children’s, etc. 2.
Courses and colleges offering better placements and jobs, 3. Fulfilling
parents dreams. 4. To get good matrimony matches for their wards. 5.
To settle their children abroad. Reasons could be manifold but definitely are
not scientific and rationale.
But the times have changed and
some of those streams are not any more job getters, or some are very expensive
and out of reach for many of us. Meanwhile there is lot of progress in
societies around the world in general and India in particular. The choice of
courses and career options available these days have also increased immensely.
Many of my industrialist friends
often complain that the quality of employees whom they have recruited after
following stringent recruitment processes and best practices, are deteriorating
day by day, even after paying them reasonably good salaries, they do not want
to work hard, there is no sense of responsibility, accountability and loyalty. It might be, these people are not what they are by their choice
or may be wrong choice of their course of study and career.
Even today many
parents, frequently ask’s me, what could be the best available course in the market
for their children. They still look for quick fix solutions. I often reply to
them, that, there is no best or worst course.
“Courses are courses” and all are good. Our consideration should
not be on which course to select but what is the most suitable
course and career option for our children. Our main consideration
should be happiness of our children and success will automatically follow. They
should follow their passion and they should first identify their natural
strength. Research have proved that people who have followed their natural
strength as their career, went on to become great professionals in their chosen
field. They never struggled. For them it was their passion, they loved each and
every moment of their work and were always free of stress.
If we look around us, we will
find successful people are those who are following their gifted natural abilities
and strengths. Celebrities like, Movie stars, Cricketers, CEOs of multinational
corporations, Politicians, Scientists, Sports Stars, Painters, Dancers,
Singers, Industrialists, Architects, Academicians, Yoga Gurus, Photographers,
Spiritual Leaders, Stock Brokers, Doctors, Engineers, IT Professionals,
Investment Advisors, Social Entrepreneurs, Television Anchors, Radio Jockeys,
Musicians, Economists, Naturopaths, Zoologists etc. etc.
So, What is a Natural
Strength? How do we identify it?
Careers are based on Natural
abilities and Eight multiple Intelligence's.
Namely 1. Linguistic, 2. Visual, 3. Musical, 4.
Logical, 5. Kinaesthetic, 6.
Intrapersonal, 7. Interpersonal and 8. Naturalistic. All these eight intelligence's are present in each and every individual but in varied degrees
and proportions, among'st these, One intelligence will be the most dominant Learning strength in an
individual which can be nurtured and developed into talent. The student who
pursues the most dominant intelligence, which happens to be the natural
strength of that individual, they will be passionate about their study and will
be stress free and will be more happy and will achieve significant success in
their career. These days there are many options and tools available in the
market to find out the most suitable course and careers. Various Vendors are
offering different tools to assess the suitability of the course based on
different parameters. I suggest parents to take informed decisions about the
available tools in the market.
Choose a tool which not only
focuses on one or two parameters, but which focuses on multiple parameters.
The tools selected should be able to assess the student in different aspects
like their IQ, Focus, Decision Making ability and Creativity. Apart from
these, the said tool should also find out the natural strength of the student. The
tool should also focus on the pace and style of learning. It should also
indicate whether he is a logical or Creative person.
So please take informed decisions
and choose your carrier wisely utilising various tools available in the market.
Wishing all the best to all parents and children’s of 10th grade/
Class for a happy and successful careers.
Jampana Srinivas Raju. Director, T&P-HUB & Career Councillor
9676495903, info@tandphub.com
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