College students should base their choice of a field of study on the availability of jobs in that field

In a developing country like India, where securing a good livelihood is of foremost importance, choosing a field of study with good job prospects becomes the cardinal rule for most of the students who are about to embark on their academic journey. Even most of the parents would champion this rule and force their children to pursue a field which would warrant a good flow of money into the family. Above assertion is clearly evident from the number of students joining the IT industry every year. Such has been the demand for the IT students that many engineering colleges have been specifically erected to provide IT degrees to the students. Choosing a field of study based only on the availability of job has serious repercussions which I would like to highlight.

Consider a hypothetical situation of Hari and Ravi. Hari and Ravi were very close friends and after high school they decided to pursue their undergraduate education in Information Technology, it being one of the most demanding fields. While Hari was able to cope up in his curriculum and secure a very good job, Ravi slogged for the four years and somehow managed to land in a decent job. After embarking on their professional career, Hari continued to do well in his field and was very passionate about his work, while Ravi who could never develop a passion for his field remains frustrated and depressed from his job. Now, in retrospect Ravi wonders if he took the right decision in selecting his field.

Most of us would tend to think that Hari made a right choice, but the actual truth is that he just followed the trend, the trend of getting into IT industry which warrants good remuneration. The truth is that Hari just got lucky. Such is the situation of most of the students who are about to choose a field of study. Instead of exploring their talents they tend to select a field of study based on the remuneration, only to find out later that they made a wrong choice, leading to frustration, depression and even to suicide in some cases. More helpless are those students who choose their field of study based on their talent and passion but are quelled down by the parents.

The number of suicides is on rise among the students. People are quick to attribute this to the poor educational system. While this might be partly true, one cannot ignore the fact that this could be largely attributed to the mistake on the students’ part, who fail to introspect, search for their talents and choose their field accordingly or sometimes to the parents who fail to acknowledge their children's interest and force them to pursue a more job opportunistic field.

Another problem faced by many students is that they don’t know in what field their passion lies or in what field they could develop their talent. These students tend to follow the trend, which is hugely driven by the availability of jobs. I would likely to advise them to take recourse to the career counselors who would help finding them a field of interest that appeals to their interests and have good job opportunities.

There are numerous examples of people whom we have idolized and worshiped like Sachin Tendulkar, Micheal Jackson, Nikola Tesla, Steve Jobs, etc. Imagine what would have happened if Nikola Tesla would have decided to follow the trend and settle for a rewarding job. We would be living in a world with no AC current and hence no electricity to power our houses. Steve Jobs, a visionary of the modern times, envisioned that there would be a personal computer in each home. All these great personalities are result of their scrupulous efforts, dedication, endless verve and ardor for their work.

Hence, it is not advisable for the students to choose a field of study based only upon the availability of jobs in that field. I would like the parents and students to understand that today there are numerous rewarding fields for the students to choose and that having talent and passion for the field is more important to succeed.