Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed.

Educational institutions all over the world have played a major role in shaping the future of their students. Right from birth to adulthood, education institutions have been associated in delivering education to its students. First, a child at infancy enrolls at a playschool or a kindergarten, then, at teenage at a high school and then, as an adult enrolls at a university for undergraduate or a graduate degree. All these years a child gets educated from during his or her initial stages of growth and finally, becomes an adult when he or she has to make a choice for pursuing the field of study to be enrolled for higher education.

The author here claims that these educational institutions are responsible to dissuade the students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed. Educational institutions always have a burning desire for their students should be successful in their life. These institutions always base their performance indicators mostly on the success of its students. However, in my view I agree with the claims made by the author but partially.

Beginning right from school level, teachers always persuade their students to excel in the core subjects taught in school. Very few of them will persuade their students to subjects which are mostly non-conventional like music, dance, art & craft, painting etc. Then, moving up to the high school, after tenth grade most of the teachers will persuade the students to either study in either science or commerce stream due to bright prospects in both of them. Seldom, will a teacher wish a student to choose arts and humanities to study in high school as they feel there is a limited scope in this field. As a result, a student will not be able to choose his or her field of interest due to the notions prevalent around them. Further, moving up to the university level we may find that courses being offered are the ones which are in popular demand and pursued by most of the students. For example, an engineering university always lists the branches of engineering which are conventional and have always been pursued by most according to the requirements of the industry. Suppose, if a student is interested to pursue his undergraduate studies in aeronautical engineering in India he or she has to choose from a list of few universities and colleges offering that course because aeronautical engineering course is not much popular and demanding in this country. As a result, the student has to either switch on his desired field of study in engineering so as to enroll in a good institution in order to get absorbed in the industry.

However, educational institutions are not the only responsible elements that dissuade the students from pursuing the fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed. Society also plays a major role in influencing the students to choose their field of study. Along with society our parents also have huge influence to choose our study options. For example, in India most of the parents desire their children to choose science as a field of study in high school and further, study engineering or medical at university level. Or, they will desire their children to study commerce and become a charted accountant or a lawyer. Due to this parental pressure along with society’s influence most of the students half-heartedly choose these conventional fields of study and then end up being nowhere. Apart from this, peer pressure also plays a significant role for most of the students in choosing their field of study. Most of the students these days follow what their intimate friends or relatives are pursuing after witnessing their success without keeping in mind their aptitudes and abilities before choosing a field of study.

Therefore, I assert that educational institutions are responsible to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed but it is not the only responsible factor. Other factors such as parents, peers, society are also equally responsible for influencing the students to pursue their field of study.