education

A large part of my work involves giving career guidance to students.

And most students (99% of them) would come to me without any idea what they should do for work and for life. The other 1% would be very clear with what they want and mainly wants guidance on how to get there.

For the students in the 99% group, it is not a bad thing because they are at least aware of the situation and seeking help. It is those others who are completely clueless and absolutely unaware of it that I am worried about.

Quite obviously, for students in the 99% group, their answer to, “What do you want to do after graduation?” is invariably:

“I don’t know.”

“I have never thought of it.”

Or some variation of these.

And when asked why they are studying what they are studying,  many would give me a blank stare or give an answer similar to:

“There’s good prospects… according to <some relative>.”

“I had no choice,” or “It’s not my first choice.”

“There’s big money.”

One interesting answer I got just this week was:

“Accountants look really cool.”

As a society, we have come to put a lot of trust in the education system. In fact, too much trust. A degree has been regarded by the recent past few generations to be the ticket for success and, eventually, happiness.

In fact, certain degrees are favoured over others. There is also a huge play of favouritism in the school system where the various subjects are classified in a hierarchy of importance.

Think about it. In your primary school and high school, which are the “important” subjects?

Math, science and language.

How about music, dance, art, history, religious knowledge, ethics and values? These are second-class citizens. Most schools classify these as “nice-to-haves” instead of “must-haves.”

And many parents would even say, “You cannot earn a living with these! There is no future studying these! Don’t waste your time!”

Why?

Because they were brought up in the industrial age in which the industrial revolution essentially requires people trained in the hard skills like mathematics and the Sciences so that they can work in factories and production lines.

Such an intentional and purposeful filtering of subjects in schools deprives young children of the valuable exposure they needed to discover their natural interests, talents and aptitudes.

What’s more is that these same children (that is, you and me) are being drilled day and night about the need to study hard (i.e. maths and the sciences) so that we can go to university, so that we can get a degree, so that we can get a good job, so that we can earn good money, so that we can have a good life, so that we can be successful and happy.

This is one big lie that we have been sold to consistently over the past few generations.

No wonder most of our youths and graduates today feel lost and have no idea what they should do!!

Now, there are many ways to determine what you should do in your life. If you don’t know what you want, here’s another approach:

Think about what you don’t want.

I mean think about the kind of work that you would absolutely hate to do on a day-to-day basis.

What kind of environment do you hate?

What kind of people would you hate to work with?

What would you dislike to deal with on a regular basis?

Look at what you hate and consider the opposite. You see, being clear about what you don’t want and dislike will also give you a good idea of what you want and what would work for you.