When we were younger and we were asked what we would like to be in the future, most of us responded with "I would like to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer" and so on. But then I believe most of us do not know what we want, we just go along with the crowd.
In this part of the world, I think it's best if students are been taught to have a vast knowledge of different areas of study. Choosing a career is a big deal and should not be taken with levity but since some schools here don't have a career counselor, I think the students should be made to follow their choice of career with little guidance from their parents and teachers.
One thing that most people make mistakes on, either parents or students themselves is the idea that only brilliant students belong to the science departments in the school. The other two remaining departments (commercial and art) are for students who were "not too brilliant". The worst is even art students as they were deemed to be "dull students". I have seen cases where parents came to complain bitterly when their children were not placed in science departments even when it's clear the child wants to be in art class. This is mostly common in private schools.
You can't even tell your parents that you want to study music in school without them looking at you like you grew horns. Some careers sound absurd to our parents even when the child is passionate about it. This has caused some children to study courses they have no interest in all in a bid to please their parents.
I remember back when I was in secondary school, I was an art student and whenever we had any free time( which was to be used to read by the way), most of us didn't read, rather we played, talked or gist in class. Back then, our senior prefect would leave the class and go check if the science students were having classes at the time, if they were, he would sit at their back and listen to the teacher. We would sometimes laugh wondering if he would understand what they do there. Other times we thought he was just trying to show off, but now we knew better that whatever knowledge he had gained back then would never depart from him.
At my place of work some years back, we once did a seminar on "phonics". It was aimed at helping the teachers teach their children better. Especially for students who find it difficult to read. The seminar helped me a lot and I learned a great deal. But the funny part of all was the last day(it was a 3-day seminar), after all the teaching and learning, we decided to round It off with a bit of fun so when it got to a part where we tell stories amongst ourselves, I was shocked to learn that our tutor was a "science student" in school. Like she even studied a science course at the university, I think "biochemistry" or so.
According to her she found a passion for tutoring and went for professional courses and she became a professional. Imagine just spending 3 days with us and I can only imagine how much she will be paid.
I have also learned of those who were science students but later switched to professional courses in Accounting and so on. I believe they could make a switch like that because they had prior knowledge in both areas of study.
Now I am not saying one shouldn't have their area of specialization, they should. But then try to know other areas as well. I do tell my students to try to be able to fit in all areas and with the high rate of unemployment in the country, most people might end up switching jobs in the long run. Moreso, with people relying more on Artificial intelligence (AI) most jobs might end up not requiring a high number of workforce. So how do you survive if you are good at just one thing?
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