Future of the Future

          “My kid is going to be the most famous doctor in the country”, my mother used to say every morning when she would send me to school. “I do not want to be a doctor. I want to sleep and play.” I would invariably reply. This is the common scene in almost every home of our country. Thankfully, wish of every mother is not fulfilled otherwise it would have become impossible for doctors to find any patients to treat. And after completing my education, I am not a doctor but I am happy with my profession and am passionate about my job. 

Parents start programming their children from the first day at school and this thing continues until he/she becomes a doctor or anything else. Wishing and hoping very high of one’s children is not a bad thing. But one should be realistic. Nobody tries to know what their child want to be? What is their tendency? What is the ability and talent that he/she has been gifted with? These are some questions which are totally ignored even though they are of prime importance. Parents need to realize one thing that every child has been granted different abilities from God. Everyone can't become doctor, engineer, scientist etc. Individual differences are the ultimate reality and the beauty of this world. Some people can become doctors, some engineers, scientists, some can become good teachers and these differences are very important for the maintenance of this universe. We need people having different abilities and professions to run a modern civilized society.

           

            The only thing that matters in our country for choosing a profession is how much would one earn at the end? The result is that a few subjects become like hot cakes and colleges offering these are flooded with students, but due to the internal policy of educational institutes, lack of seats and many other problems they have to give up their chosen field. Then their only purpose is to complete education and get a degree. This type of perceived failure badly affects the careers of many children. Instead of diagnosing the causes of failure and rectifying, these students are stigmatized with failure for the rest of their lives. The inferiority complex drives many of them to the point of madness. Recently a student in Lahore committed suicide after he was mistakenly declared as having failed his intermediate level exam!

Parents think that by admitting their children in schools of high reputation, they have fulfilled their duty and that their children would automatically become masters of all worldly knowledge. But nobody bothers to assess the intellectual talent, technical ability and IQ level of their children. In public schools, the only goal of the teachers is to end the syllabus irrespective of whether students learn anything or not. They even do not care if anyone is present in the class or not. But each year, on the day of results declaration, parents and teachers instead of sharing the blame equally, unite to torment the students who do not fare good in the exams.

            The only thing which is required and must be provided is: Guidance and Counseling. As a well known principle of economics, ends are always greater than means, there is great competition due to overpopulation; opportunities are less than the people. As population is increasing the number of school going children is also going up day by day. In this situation it is very necessary to provide proper guidance to the students at school level. Our education system should be result oriented instead of the degree-oriented.

           

            Finally the purpose of this discussion is that the children are the future of any nation, they are like a treasure which must be preserved with utmost care. Government should provide source of guidance and counseling at every institute so they can become good citizens of the country and perform their positive roll in the society. It is also the duty of the teachers to guide them about their future. Parents should also keep in view the interest of their child and provide him opportunities which are required for him so that they can be successful in their lives. They should not impose their own wishes on them because this can be harmful in some situations. 


Everybody is concerned with their future and plans accordingly. But the question is: who is going to think and plan about the future of the future?