Crossroads

Most students I talk to don't know what they want to pursue at the end of their pre-university course, or even at the end of university years. Only a select few know exactly what they want and set out to achieve those goals. Is this normal? Yes, I believe so.

At the tender age of 18 or 19, can teenagers be expected to make decisions which will determine their career choice for the next 20-30 years? Are they equipped with the necessary knowledge, understanding and wisdom to do what they really want to do, and not what their parents want them to do? Or do they even know what they want to do? Most have romantic ideas about certain jobs - comments like "I want to be a lawyer because I believe I will look cool in black and white" are not rare. It shows how shallow the young mind can be. Is that all there is to lawyering? The attire? How about the pressures, the compromise, the battles, the integrity, the price to pay at each point of decisions?

Well meaning relatives, cousins, teachers and other adults would provide good advice - be a doctor, a consultant, an engineer, an architect, an accountant, surely there is a market out there. " Never mind your interests, you are still young, you don't know better, just listen to me."

Why doesn't anyone suggest that you pursue your interest in arts and crafts, drawing, painting, acting, singing, carpentry or even plumbing? Are these lesser jobs, are these skills despised because they don't seem to make the bucks? Without the plumber or carpenter or electrician, how well can our modern households fair? Do we have the necessary skills to upkeep everything by our own hands?

Many parents have been told that they cannot live out their lives through their children, they are not to 'force', 'coerce', 'influence' their children to take up the vocation that they failed to achieve. The children are not the alter ego or the substitute of the parents. But having said that, how many parents actually allow freedom in the choice of the children's career? Do parents know when to let go? What is the right age to let go? 20/30/40?

I notice too that many school leavers are increasingly signing up for psychology courses, not so much because they want to pursue a career in that field, but I gather they may be struggling to understand the environment around them and want to be understood themselves. Psychology may shed some light, but really, nothing beats communication - open, raw and honest heart to heart talk.


So, all out there who are still searching for the light, looking for an answer, please do some soul searchings before you jump. Can you see yourself going to work day in day out to a job which is less than satisfying? If you choose a vocation you love, you are not actually working but relishing your hobby. How many in their lifetime actually achieve that?