The big brainwash

I had the chance to cover a career councelling session at a popular school in Dehradun for my paper a few days back. This was the first time I was going to a school since I left for Delhi 4 years back and got back from there. I was appalled to see the kind of things that were being talked about during the panel discussion on various career avenues for the kids.

The panel in the said discussion comprised professionals from the "popular" careers- there was a doctor, a CA, an engineer, an IT professional and so on. The first speaker came forth to talk about where to begin. His first statements were as follows:

"Be sincere. Don't think I can do this and I can do that also. Be focussed on one thing. Choose now and do it. Then you will be able to do something good in life. Otherwise you will only do simple graduation."

It took supreme effort on my part to not jump on the dias and strangle the piece of lard blabbering before me. How can a school student here be expected to know for a fact what he wants to do in his life? There is the make-slips-and-pick-one or go-along-with-your-friend or dad-knows-best ways of deciding. But seeing as this may be considered a life-changing choice, the least one would want was to know each career avenue entailed.

But the school auhtorities are smart. This was why they had called professionals to talk about their respective careers. Here is what the CA said:

"If you become CA, you have to do many things. You have to maintain records, do audits and compile books and compund interests and taxes. So CA is for the students who have a flair for finance or legal matters because CA has to take care of many legal matters."

Sure. Couldn't be clearer. After all, if a 17-year old doesn't know if he has a flair for legal or financial matters, he has no right to attend a career-councelling session.

School students, especially those who are taking boards have to attend school and study. Period. They spend their "free" time over the phone or on orkut. None of them have worked a single hour in their lives and the only people they talk to are their close-knit gang at school or in tuitions. Analyse the situation- they see nothing, they know nothing- especially where their interests lie- and they have to decide what they want to do right after school and in many cases, during school.

This is the reason why most professionals are disillusioned in the first year of their high-paying jobs. It is a fact that simple graduation is not such a bad option when you don't know what you have to do. Parents would come after me with forks and torches to burn me alive for this blasphemy but another fact is that it is OK to NOT know what you want to do. If you are in standard 12 and your life is remotely similar to what I have mentioned above and you think you know what you want to do in your life, then you probably don't.

I am all for taking as long as it takes to figure out what. Because it is important. Because it is something I have to do- not my dad; not my best friend; not my teachers and not the damned career councellor. Me. I think it should be made mandatory for all 11th standard students to travel for 6 months- backpack through the country, meet people, volunteer at hospitals, schools and theatre groups. Do an intership with MNCs or media houses or under lawyers and CAs. See everything, interact with people, ask questions and then decide where they want to go.

But this education system that takes in individuals and churns out a standard, study-work-marry-die human force has gripped entire generations of adults and children.
The top 2 questions that a child who has recently learnt to talk knows the answer to are-

1. What is your name?
2. What will you be when you grow up?

The big brainwash.