Monday, September 15, 2008

Let Us Choose a Profession

When we talk of profession, we must be able to understand what the word profession really implies. The implication is by far quite clear that, if we decide to follow a certain profession, we have to follow that branch of learning which will lead us to that profession.
Regarding the choice of a profession, in India there are a great number of limitations in the choice. Choice has got to be as per the individual’s I.Q. level, his preferences, his learnings, and, above all the affordability of the process of following the course, to take the individual to a profession of his or her choice. The choice also depends on the aptitude of the individual. It is very true that, if a person is forced to follow a profession which he does not really like, he will not do too well in it, and so he will not be happy. In making a choice of a profession another determiner is, the type an individual is. If he is an artist, he will obviously do better as an artist rather than an engineer. Similarly, if a person has a brain for Mathematics, he would be better suited to becoming a scientist or an engineer, rather than an educationist, a musician or a poet.
All this is very well said and considered in each case at least these days but, in inida the situation is rather tricky. In India, there is no institution like the National Intelligence Test Bureau in America, where every individual’s I.Q. is tested, and the career or profession chosen accordingly. In India even if the child knows what he wants to do, he has an aptitude also for it, and the I.Q. and also the finances the last stumbling block is the very keen competition which he fails to clear most often. Here we see children trying for medical, and finally ending up in Arts Degree course. This shows an absolute lack of planning and co ordination between institutes of education, their turn outs and the real demands in services and other professions. With suck lack of co ordination it is the children who suffer the most, and after being educated they stand on the crossroads of life struggling to get into any profession in order to at least earn a living. This situation in India very beautifully depicts the truth of the saying that, if we “do not get what we would love to get, we should love what we get”. Besides, in the Indian job market, the position is, “beggars cannot be choosers”. So, even if we know how to choose a profession, we have all the requirements of a profession, we cannot hope to get into it, unless we are very luck. So, at least in India, no matter how well we may know how to choose a profession, we finally have to join one that we get in hand.
This situation is true for at least 80% of our students and, this is because what the colleges and Universities turn out are, individuals with degrees but not fit for any job of any significance. They are, most of them fit to become babus or clerks in Government offices. There are institutions producing doctors, engineers lawyers etc., but the bulk production is of the community of clerks. In this situation, where does the choice of a profession find its place, it just flies with the wind like several other Utopian dreams. It is very nice to hear and debate about how and why we should properly choose a profession, but, at least in India it is only high sounding trash, with nothing to match it in reality, on the ground. We would love to do what we are cut for, what we like, but HOW? That seems to be nobody’s concern.
Choosing a profession in India is like a wild goose chase, for most of us, you just have to keep trying, and if Lady Luck smiles at you and you find favour with her, you may get what you wish for otherwise, each one of us is destined to do whatever come our way, we never really can get what we choose, at least in India.

No comments: