Before Choosing a Career, Let School Students Discover What They Love

Before children find out what they like, we ask them what they want to be. Many have an answer when they get to high school: doctor, engineer, lawyer, designer. However, a student can’t make an informed decision on a world that he or she has not experienced. Maybe the more appropriate question is “What do you want to do?” 

A child who loves to draw might find that they are interested in fashion, animation or design. A second person that enjoys taking things apart might be interested in engineering or robotics. A student who loves to write for the school magazine might find out about journalism. These experiences don’t have to be jobs. Their first job is to show to children what they are interested in, and not interested in.

This is where schools can have a difference. Through clubs, projects, competitions, workshops, field visits and discussions with professionals, students can be introduced to possibilities beyond the careers that they are familiar with. The career guidance material of NCERT also focuses on the importance of understanding students’ interests, abilities and introducing them to various jobs.

Interests don’t always speak for themselves. They are present in the things a child keeps coming back to: the project he/she continues to work on after class, the subject he/she reads about without being asked, the activity he/she willingly struggles with to become better at.

These patterns are observable by parents and teachers, but not necessarily career choices. Being interested in coding doesn’t necessarily mean engineering, and being interested in biology doesn’t mean medicine. In some cases, an interest just requires some space to develop.

Children should be given the freedom to change their minds. Decisions made at age 14 are not life-long commitments. It’s also progress to try something and find it’s not for you. Career exploration is not about making children sure about their future. It is to make them know themselves a little more before the future asks them to choose.

Give them experiences, allow them to be curious, let some interests to die down and others to bloom. The career that they end up with can start with something as simple as having the freedom to discover what they love.