PUBLISHED: Student & Campus Section, Manila Bulletin, 17 July 2008 Issue (page G-3)
There are many different reasons why we choose the courses we take up in college.Most people choose courses based on the careers that they think will make them successful.
Others choose courses that fulfill them, regardless of whether it’s lucrative.
Still, others choose courses not knowing what they really want, so that some of them eventually end up shifting from one course to another.
But no matter what the reason is, the most important thing is that you choose, for it is your future—your life—at stake.
But what if someone else did the choosing for you?
I think the reason I ask is because I’ve heard too many of my peers asking, “Why the hell am I in this course anyway?” Apparently, these people were pressured to take up courses they didn’t really want. I feel bad for them because they find themselves unable to get out in a rut that they didn’t even create.
Now, I don’t want to sound unfair by saying that the decision to take up an AB or a BS degree belongs exclusively to the student, and that other people, like parents, should not interfere with the process in any way. Obviously, a lot of considerations have to be made when it comes to career choice. And parents, in this case, can be very helpful.
But at the same time, it is also very difficult to draw the line. Parents can always impose their will on their children, on the presumption that they know better. This is where the classic conflict comes into play.
My parents want me to be a doctor, but I want to be a lawyer. I want to take up Political Science, but dad says I should be in Business Management. I really wanted to be an accountant, but mom put nursing in my college application; I didn’t want to go against her wishes.
On one hand, perhaps it is only fair. We do owe certain things to our parents. And when parents have put so much into the roads they predestined for us to take, we shouldn’t let them down. Or when families are in dire need of financial support, it is only right that we give back. Family, after all, is central to our values as a people.
But what bothers me is that it forces young people to either of two situations. The first is when you stay. While some people adapt effectively, others don’t. And when you don’t, you end up numbing yourself, usually with self-deception.
The second is when you eventually break down and shift. This scenario is riskier because it’s the kind of thing that causes rifts in families. Either way, they start out with an inherent disadvantage—unlike people like me, who were given the liberty to take up what we wanted.
Then again, maybe there’s some sense in giving up your dreams in lieu of what others dictate.
Yes, maybe. Some people have to give up what they could be, or what they want to be, and conform to what seems to be the safer option. And if we have anything going for us, it’s that our society supports such a mindset. After all, our educational system has always been demand-driven. Considering that our parents were formed under the same mentality, it is only reasonable to assume that they urge us to conform to it as well.
And then we ended up with an oversupply of nurses. But I digress.
There are many different reasons why we choose the courses that we do, but the most important thing is that we choose them. Other people shouldn’t be the ones making choices that shape our futures, using standards that are different from our own. Whether your parents agree with it or not, what matters is that you are certain of what you have chosen. Practical considerations are not the only determiners of success. And even then, success isn’t the sole measure of what makes a life meaningful anyway.
The Off Course by James Soriano, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Philippines License.
