THE STUDENTS AND CAREER CHOICE :: more attention needed

The task of selecting a preferred course of study in tertiary institution usually poses a great challenge to every student who aspires for further studies in the Ivory tower. This is because, in recent times, that aspect of students' education life is entirely left to the discretion of the young people with little or no conscious effort made by education planners and administrators to fill the vacuum or to address inherent technicalities.


However, the primary hurdle which appears visible to students, their sponsors and even school proprietors/ administrators as the precondition to attaining the next level in educational pursuits is examination, both internal and external. In view of this, all efforts are geared towards surmounting it, thereby ignoring this critical and deterministic phase that shapes the career prospects of an individual.


Ideally, it is the responsibility of guardians and counselors to order aright the steps of aspiring students in terms of choice of course that are in line with their personal capacities and callings. It is unfortunate that today these professional counselors are conspicuously absent in our secondary schools.


Given this absence, parents, guardians and even peers have taken up this responsibility of career guide based
on the face value and popularity of a given discipline without any consideration to the personality traits of the person undertaking the venture. Furthermore, as a result of the level of exposure of some parents guardians who have limited awareness of existing academic disciplines, they feel that to be reputable graduates, their wards must study Medicine, Law, Engineering or Pharmacy in higher institutions.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” (Confucius)
“It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome. That’s what defines your career.” (Carlton Fisk)
“Work to become, not to acquire.” (Elbert Hubbard)
“Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it.” (Katherine Whitehorn)

Lofty as these aspirations may seem, there are other indispensable elements that should be present before a passionate, competent and fulfilled medical doctor, lawyer, engineer or pharmacist is produced. In other words, the values, interests, skills, temperaments and personality of students must be in consonance with their chosen fields of study, if they are to excel academically and professionally.


This implies that what a child likes doing, what gives him fulfillment when he does it and what he does effortlessly all point towards his inclination in terms of an academic field of study when he grows up. For instance, a child who can draw very well is a potential artist or architect while a child whose hobby is fixing a toy car could do well in a technically/ technologically-oriented course like engineering. Similarly, if a child is compassionate, he is inclined towards caregiving courses such as Medicine, Nursing, Teaching, etcetera. Any child who is smart and logical in his/her reasoning could excel in the field of Law. This also applies to numerous other courses not mentioned. However, students could be moulded along desired academic lines during infancy in readiness for a given preferred career in future.


Consequent upon the afore stated, schools are urged to employ the services of Career Guardians and Counselors to address the foregoing challenge. In the same vein, parents/guardians are also enjoined to admonish their wards on course preference depending on their natural aptitudes and other innate capabilities because these are the prerequisites for academic and professional excellence.