Our school curriculum is designed to develop three major aspects of a child – intellectual abilities, artistic potential and physical fitness.
For physical development, students undergo different kinds of physical trainings, learn to do exercises regularly, indulge in sports, do yoga, etc.
For artistic development they have art classes, music classes and some of them also get involved in dance and dramatic activities.
But, the major focus of the schools in India is developing the intellectual abilities of students.
Broadly, we can divide our school academic curriculum into 4 heads – Language Studies, Mathematics, Science and Social Science,.
Language Studies develop our reading, writing and communication skills. Mathematics is essential for developing our analytical and computational abilities. Science subjects that include Physics, Chemistry and Biology, give us a structured understanding of matter, energy and the universe. Social Science subjects comprise of History, Civics, Geography and Economics, give us the understanding of the people and world around us.
After school, the most important thing that is in everyone’s mind – what should I study next?
It has been seen, often because of parental and peer pressure, students join the bandwagon to pursue a course in Science with the hope to become an engineer or a doctor. Traditionally, these two professions guarantees very lucrative careers in India.
But, because of lack of interest and aptitude, many students fail to clear the tough entrance examinations to secure an engineering or medical seat in a good college. After the heartbreak, they get stuck in a course that neither gives them satisfaction, nor provides a good career choice. Most of them regret their career decisions and finally try to get into any profession, whether they have interest in it or not.
So, it is extremely important to choose the right course for your higher education.
The choice need to be driven by two factors –
first you should like that subject and you should be good at it, and
second, it should provide you a career option with good earning potential.
Whatever subject one studies, it branches into two career paths. Research field and Application field.
When a Science student decides to get into research field, she becomes a scientist, when she goes into the application aspects of science, she becomes an engineer, technologist or a doctor.
When a Social Science student decides to do further research in her respective field, she ends up becoming an economist, a political scientist, a historian, a sociologist, etc.
If she decides to go into the application of the learnings, she becomes a business manager (after an MBA), public administrator (after clearing central or state public service commission exams), accountant, financial consultant, lawyer, journalist, clinical psychologist, etc
There are many other careers in the field of language studies and mathematics as well, like a linguist, a mathematician, a data scientist, etc.
Research stream of any field helps the learner to become an educator or a writer.
So, it is evident, that no matter what one studies, one has so many great careers to choose from. Contrary to the perceptions of many middle-class parents, one is not constrained by only two choices of being either a doctor or an engineer.
It is important for a student to choose a subject where his or her heart is.
Because, where the heart is, there the mind will be. And when you put your heart and mind together, no one can stop you from achieving your dreams.