The Road less travelled

[Nikhar]

'What's your profession?'

And before the person could answer, in the back of your mind, you'd know the answer. Engineer, doctor?

Well, why do you think that today's youth is focused unidirectionally?

I had to write an essay on this but I think it can be a hot topic for discussions too. These are some of the points:-

1.) Distribution of youth in various fields in developed countries.

2.)Reasons for skewed ratio of involvement of youth in selected sectors.

3.)Why are the youth unwilling to take the plunge to pursue their passions?

4.)Advantages of multi-faceted distribution of youth in different fields.

5.)How do we go about achieving it? (suggetsions like awareness of career porfiles, counselling, change in education system etc.)

[The Atheist]

'What's your profession?'

And before the person could answer, in the back of your mind, you'd know the answer. Engineer, doctor?

Well, why do you think that today's youth is focused unidirectionally?

I didn't know they were!

I would have picked the opposite, with a range of study options not available in years gone by, and a range of careers which didn't previously exist.


I had to write an essay on this but I think it can be a hot topic for discussions too. These are some of the points:-

1.) Distribution of youth in various fields in developed countries.

That's simple research, so let me know what you find out. If there's a preponderance of youth behaving a certain way (other than being dicks, which they/we always have), I'd be interested.


2.)Reasons for skewed ratio of involvement of youth in selected sectors.

Ditto.


3.)Why are the youth unwilling to take the plunge to pursue their passions?

Are they?

While "gap years" are a new way of describing a break to make one's mind up, the idea isn't new.

I haven't detected any reduction in the ratio of kids who go on to study law, science, medicine, maths and engineering, so I'm not sure the idea that they are less passionate than previous times holds up.


4.)Advantages of multi-faceted distribution of youth in different fields.

5.)How do we go about achieving it? (suggetsions like awareness of career porfiles, counselling, change in education system etc.)

Well, the why is pretty obvious - if we don't train enough doctors, teachers or scientists, we're in the crap.

How do we achieve it? How are we achieving it?

You really need some data to find out whether there is a case either way.

[JBI]

Cough, misreading of Frost, cough.

Seriously, that's not what the Road not Taken is about - it's about the road not taken - the point is that he can only see so far down either road, so the future of his walk of life down the not taken road is forever a mystery - the tyranny of linear time, and our inability to ever go back.



Beyond that though, what exactly is a passion, and how will a youth know about that instantly - I only started really reading at 15, and only at a scholarly level later - what about somebody who ends up going to university, and working in a field completely unrelated to their discipline, which occurs most of the time for degrees in the humanities or social sciences?

People don't know what they want - they make decisions, but ultimately, we only seem to think back to the "road not taken" when something bad comes - we can never fully know how much better off we would be otherwise.


And PS, it's a shame you somehow got tricked into the high school misinterpretation of Frost - most people are, I'm afraid, but if you look at the poem, you'll realize it's really quite depressing.

[Nikhar]

I didn't know they were!

I would have picked the opposite, with a range of study options not available in years gone by, and a range of careers which didn't previously exist.



That's simple research, so let me know what you find out. If there's a preponderance of youth behaving a certain way (other than being dicks, which they/we always have), I'd be interested.



Ditto.



Are they?

While "gap years" are a new way of describing a break to make one's mind up, the idea isn't new.

I haven't detected any reduction in the ratio of kids who go on to study law, science, medicine, maths and engineering, so I'm not sure the idea that they are less passionate than previous times holds up.



Well, the why is pretty obvious - if we don't train enough doctors, teachers or scientists, we're in the crap.

How do we achieve it? How are we achieving it?

You really need some data to find out whether there is a case either way.

Firstly, thanks for the time you took to help me out. :)

Well, it's one of the cases here in India. There are more Engineering colleges than tea stalls. :p

And every year it'd produce so many engineers..... who'd find it difficult to get a job.

I'll try and do the researxh as soon as I get the time. Unfortunately, I have myexams going on. :bawl:

[Nikhar]

Cough, misreading of Frost, cough.

Seriously, that's not what the Road not Taken is about - it's about the road not taken - the point is that he can only see so far down either road, so the future of his walk of life down the not taken road is forever a mystery - the tyranny of linear time, and our inability to ever go back.



Beyond that though, what exactly is a passion, and how will a youth know about that instantly - I only started really reading at 15, and only at a scholarly level later - what about somebody who ends up going to university, and working in a field completely unrelated to their discipline, which occurs most of the time for degrees in the humanities or social sciences?

People don't know what they want - they make decisions, but ultimately, we only seem to think back to the "road not taken" when something bad comes - we can never fully know how much better off we would be otherwise.


And PS, it's a shame you somehow got tricked into the high school misinterpretation of Frost - most people are, I'm afraid, but if you look at the poem, you'll realize it's really quite depressing.

Hi...firstly, thanks a lot for taking out the time to help me out. :)

Another thing, my essay is not inspired by Frost's poem. Unfortunately, I haven't even read the poem. :(

Though if I get time, I'll like to read the poem.:)

Anyways, maybe I need to explain what my teachers want in the essay. Students, specially those who are just about to complete the school, are under tremendous pressures of competitve examinations. Especially, in the field of engineering. The first word a child now says is 'IIT' and not 'mom. :p

Students lack the courage to aspire for their passions and are forced to adopt the conventional jobs (yeah, you can term engineering conventional now.) And then again, they are under parent's pressure to do what their parents want rather than what they want.

[Hurricane]

Students lack the courage to aspire for their passions and are forced to adopt the conventional jobs (yeah, you can term engineering conventional now.) And then again, they are under parent's pressure to do what their parents want rather than what they want.

This is a pretty myopic view and I know a lot of other people have probably had drastically different experiences, but most of the kids I graduated high school with were going to college for the future $$ and kinda looked down on people who weren't.
I remember one of my close friends saying that she wanted to go to school for music and a girl nearby chiming in with "Why? You don't make any money!"
Only a couple were going to go off and try to be engineers (and those who were were true enginerds), most were going into business or in a few cases medicine. A lot of it was related to path of least resistance, or money-to-hard-work-ratio: "I can be a business major, drink myself silly every night, and still make 6 figures right out of undergrad! I'll do that!
The parents thing is true, though. My senior year of HS my parents were at a function with all of my classmates' parents. Numerous people asked them "how can you let her do that kind of thing!" (I go to a service academy).
Thankfully, my parents are kind of awesome and responded "Well, she's an adult and it's her life, so it's her decision."

[1n50mn14]

3.)Why are the youth unwilling to take the plunge to pursue their passions?:

This one is pretty simple to answer, from my view point. All my life, and from observing my friends, I've seen people encouraged and goaded into doing the 'safe' thing. They're told their passions won't make them money, they're unrealistic, etc, etc, etc. When I entered high school, at the age of FOURTEEN, I was told I HAD to make up my mind on what I wanted to do for the rest of my life within the next month- so I could pick my courses, to enable me to take the path toward the right university, etc. I was told, along with all of my peers, that if we screwed it up now, we wouldn't be able to go back and fix it. That's pretty intimidating in itself, isn't it? Trusted adults telling you your life is planned from the age of fourteen? That's pretty much brainwash enough to make a kid not want to take the plunge straight out of high school, or even after university.

Ramblerambleramble.
Can not make thoughts come out the way I want...
I give up.

[Nikhar]

This is a pretty myopic view and I know a lot of other people have probably had drastically different experiences, but most of the kids I graduated high school with were going to college for the future $$ and kinda looked down on people who weren't.
I remember one of my close friends saying that she wanted to go to school for music and a girl nearby chiming in with "Why? You don't make any money!"
Only a couple were going to go off and try to be engineers (and those who were were true enginerds), most were going into business or in a few cases medicine. A lot of it was related to path of least resistance, or money-to-hard-work-ratio: "I can be a business major, drink myself silly every night, and still make 6 figures right out of undergrad! I'll do that!
The parents thing is true, though. My senior year of HS my parents were at a function with all of my classmates' parents. Numerous people asked them "how can you let her do that kind of thing!" (I go to a service academy).
Thankfully, my parents are kind of awesome and responded "Well, she's an adult and it's her life, so it's her decision."


Well, maybe the problem is area-specific. Only if you'd sometime visit my place, you'll understand the situation here which is unfortunately, sad.

[Nikhar]

@becca....

That's actually quite well put. :)