135. Educational institutions should actively encourage their students to choose fields of study that will prepare them for lucrative careers.Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you ta

There are certain fields of study that do promise more lucrative careers than other fields do. And universities and colleges are proposed to positively participate in encouraging their students to pursue those majors which may lead to future careers with higher pays. However, a close examination of this issue reveals that the assertion is too arbitrary. I seriously doubt the appropriateness that if every educational institution should adopt such a principle. There are several reasons for my opinion.

First and foremost, it is questionable that a university or college has the right to influence its students' major, and in the long run, career choices. Students who are entering universities should have the right to choose the major which they have enthusiasm in, no matter the major will lead to profitable future career or not. And educational institutions may give students suggestions when they needed, but an active role in students' decision making goes too far. After all, when the students leave their college and enter the society, it will be themselves who are responsible for their own lives, not their universities. Educational institutions principal responsibility is to teach students comprehensive knowledge and cultivate their capabilities, not to affect their life choices.

Second, even if educational institutions have the right or responsibility to help students make choices, they will not have the ability to tell the future career trends; it is hard to judge which majors will promise more lucrative futures than other majors, because there is no standard or criterion to make the judgment. Even if some majors seem to lead to profitable careers at the moment, there is no promise that these majors will do in the future. The modern society changes so fast that those are hot majors now may become the cold spots tomorrow. The pharmaceutical industry was the rising-sun major in the 1990s and even maintained the trends in the beginning of 2000s in China, but when the food and drug administration changed the policy, pharmacy industry is no longer as profitable as before. Another case in point is the computer science (CS) major. In China, during the 1990s, CS major graduates made a good fortune with the rapid development of the computer and internet. So many students choose computer science as their major in the 2000s. However, with the huge increase of graduate students flooding the market, the computer engineer no longer earns that big sum of money expected as before. Thus, no one can tell what the trend is, neither the educational institutions.

Last but not the least: even if the educational institutions can foretell the future trend and give the right suggestion to students according to the trend, it is questionable that these suggested majors will be suitable for every student. Students are not the same; one may be good at drawing and the other may like sports, and still another may be ingenious in mathematics. The same major may not be applicable to every student. Students can only succeed in those areas with their interests and talents in; spending efforts in a major which is totally out of their reach will be a waste of time and energy.

In conclusion, the argument that educational institutions should actively get involved in students’ major choices is not wise or applicable. Universities and colleges better play their roles properly and rightfully.