Enamoured of Stethescope

#career

The huge flex sheets now eat up a pretty good space of our cities. They are well stocked with the photos and ranks of students who have cleared entrance examinations. My eyes get glued to these huge flexes. The coaching centres might possibly outrun the number of schools. What percentage of our savings do we dump in their pockets? Opening up a coaching centre can now be considered the most profitable business in the present scenario.

The Indian parents, if not all, a majority of them are preoccupied with deciding the destiny of their children. What their children are going to do to make them feel proud and happy? Will they make a good fortune? These are what bothers them. To an extent, parents are not to blame. It is a natural tendency for human beings to expect something good in return when they sacrifice their joys and life for another being. Likewise, parents expect their offsprings to raise their status while they strive day and night to get them everything they require. For a person to excel in a field, it is necessary that he puts in the right amount of input. The input being hard work and will power is what is instrumental in bringing out the desired output, not the pressure families stamp on you.

Parents with the mistaken hope of giving their children the right amount of support and strength enrol them in coaching centre right after their high school examinations. This adds to the parents' confidence obviously but also adds to the children's misery. Their time to chase their passions and hobbies are invested in these coaching centres. The parents must choose the area of study and profession for their children. This is the pre-existing notion among the majority of Indian parents. It is ok to score less than 80% or 90% for tenth or twelfth classes. After all, your marks do not decide your intelligence level. Marks, of course, depends on the valuation and the performance of students in the examination which undoubtedly is based on their mental condition and confidence. But society cannot really approve of that. Once their children get a good rank, they are ditched into coaching centres because A+ grade means 100% assurance for a medical seat. Funny! This is what parents tell to convince their children. It is nothing but a piece of casuistry that educated parents in the modern world hold on to. There is no second thought to it. They prefer a professional degree for their child simply because it sounds prestigious. The prestige associated with owning a stethoscope and white coat is what they dream of. Innocents are pushed into the ' bottomless pit of hell' ( Milton, Paradise Lost ) to sate their so-called dream. Nothing less than a professional course can match their status. How pathetic!

Parents must understand that prestige cannot fetch their children happiness. Happiness is the cornerstone of a delightful and fruitful life. Social status and prestige have got nothing to do with our well being. Instead of trying to please the society, it would be good if parents try to spot out the true passion and area of interest of their children. Bragging endlessly about your child for being jailed in a coaching centre gives immense pleasure to many parents. It is nothing less than craziness. Children at a young age are subjected to extreme humiliation and anxiety to grant their parent's wishes. Lack of sleep, anxiety, mental pressure, and tensions drive them mad.

If a child truly wants to pursue a professional degree it is necessary that he works hard to achieve it and he must take the initiative to chase his dream. But if he is pushed into it forcefully to satisfy the parent's dream, it does nothing, absolutely nothing to help him lead a bright future. Children also feel compelled to take up professional courses fearing that others might look down upon them if they follow their passions.

Being an Arts student, I know how the family members treat you when you decide to enrol in college for a regular degree. They mock at you, make painful and extremely sympathetic remarks about your inability to join for a professional degree and consider you unworthy of attaining an honourable job. Especially if it is a girl they can't help seeing her opt for a post-graduate course. It is a sheer wastage of money and time. To get her married off soon is what they dream of. It is at this point that you feel like spitting at their bloody faces ( Mini- us must have done this a million times). Like Hamlet, you will 'speak daggers' to them. I really wonder if they haven't seen any graduates or postgraduates standing on their own and excelling in their careers. I know how much irritating it is for a student to bear all these. Self-support and confidence is the only thing you need to have in such a circumstance. Rely on yourself, not others. Being an individual, each and everyone has the right to choose and follow what interests them. Your relatives or parents are not responsible for your future. It is your duty to find out the best in you and rise above all the anomalies that stay in your way of achieving your dreams, not your parents.