By Madhuri Gautam:
I was nervous, beads of sweat had appeared on my forehead and my eyes were glued onto my computer screen as I was anxiously waiting for my 12th CBSE results. I was suddenly engrossed in a beautiful thought. I could see myself elated, jumping, dancing and screaming on the top of my voice that I scored a ninety-one percent in my boards in the Science stream. I could see myself going crazy with happiness. Suddenly my mother pulled me out of my reverie. But it was just my luck that my dream came true and I sure consider myself blessed owing to the same.
I have however of late, begun to think whether it makes any difference when it comes to choosing streams. A few years back, I think this decision actually marked a child’s personality as it got intertwined with what stream he/she chose to study. But one cannot deny that the trend has started to experience a change. The fact that people have started coming out of their narrow state of mind is a good sign. It is heartening to see that people have begun to understand that it is not the stream but the smartness, intelligence and hard work that sums up a perfect persona and a good career. Today students have started taking up Humanities and Arts courses rather than pursue Science and Commerce.
I found it assuming to pen down the crucial reasons behind such a dramatic reversal of the trend. The very first reason is that Humanities now offers a plethora of good career options as against the time when only Science and Commerce could promise you a good career. Moreover with the increasing awareness of the Indian middle class, there has been a regular shift in the thinking of parents as well. Today there are a substantial number of such parents who do not force their children into Science or Commerce, they in fact leave it to the students and encourage them to choose the subjects of their choice. It will be befitting to acknowledge the contribution of the movie ‘3 Idiots’ in this regard.
But this does not complete the list of contributing factors. Although disheartening, there exists a negative side as well. Gen Y students lack the will to work hard in their life. They want everything: from job satisfaction to monetary benefits by following an easier path and there is no doubt that the Humanities courses are simpler than Science and Commerce ones and can be easily scored. Also the fact that Humanities courses require less capital further proves its ascendancy over other courses. The other notable reason is the extremely tough competition that students face today to attain a seat in coveted colleges. This in turn encourages students to take simpler courses so that they do not have to participate in this rat-race.
On the other hand, if one chooses the Science stream, then he/she is determined to pursue Engineering or Medicine. But it goes beyond my understanding when these science students go for a Business Management Degree after acquiring an Engineering Degree, thus rendering their degree useless. In my view it is a total waste of money and hard work and above all they are snatching this chance from students who would have loved to do what these people did and wasted. I personally believe that the course that the students are pursuing hardly matters, what actually matters is their ability to dig out the gold from the deep, to be one of the shining colours of the rainbow in the sky and to prove their worth through their acumen.