The Lack of Options
I was inspired to write this after reading an article by my friend, Qyira, who is currently working with Teach for Malaysia. TFM is an organization dedicated to engaging the youth in teaching future generations, to bridge gaps due to circumstance and to give back to society through education.
At the end of the article, she talks about how one of the students she interacted with had concerns about her future. She was concerned that the stream she was in had no future options. Another was worried that her passion for sports had no viable future. This to me, highlighted an issue I've noticed since I was in high school. Even with my privileged upbringing, mastery of English, and overseas-educated parents, I was also lost and confused, but over why there seemed to be so few options.
Almost every university that came to give a talk, every school program to help students determine a future path was focused heavily on either law, medicine, engineering, business, or mass communication. We had one school come to talk about computer science but the alumni they sent regretted taking the course and it was more demotivating than anything. We did, however, have time for dozens upon dozens of 'motivational talks', and religious sermons from random Sheikhs and ustaz.
There was absolutely zero talk about pursuing programs like computer science, psychology, economics, international development, biochem, or any of the other thousands of courses on offer in Malaysia and overseas.
It's something definitely that can be improved at the schooling-level and a move that I can see being a big boost to the nation's economy as it'll both cut down on the chance of an oversaturated market while creating a diverse pool of talent.
At the end of the article, she talks about how one of the students she interacted with had concerns about her future. She was concerned that the stream she was in had no future options. Another was worried that her passion for sports had no viable future. This to me, highlighted an issue I've noticed since I was in high school. Even with my privileged upbringing, mastery of English, and overseas-educated parents, I was also lost and confused, but over why there seemed to be so few options.
Almost every university that came to give a talk, every school program to help students determine a future path was focused heavily on either law, medicine, engineering, business, or mass communication. We had one school come to talk about computer science but the alumni they sent regretted taking the course and it was more demotivating than anything. We did, however, have time for dozens upon dozens of 'motivational talks', and religious sermons from random Sheikhs and ustaz.
There was absolutely zero talk about pursuing programs like computer science, psychology, economics, international development, biochem, or any of the other thousands of courses on offer in Malaysia and overseas.
It's something definitely that can be improved at the schooling-level and a move that I can see being a big boost to the nation's economy as it'll both cut down on the chance of an oversaturated market while creating a diverse pool of talent.
Comments