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

“Education is a life-time career’, as cliché as it might sound, the assertion has affirmed the critical role of education in shaping our existence, one way or the other. However, is education only restricted to those offered by institutional parties and real-life education could be disregarded? I have always been a strong believer in having the balance between these two major drivers to utterly strengthen our intellectual cognition and life skill. Before assessing the supposed weight enforced by educational institution on our career decision, we shall apprehend that, with a vast range of academic structure varied from country to country, there is no single system could proclaim having an encompassing assessment on level of success. Profoundly, there are increasing living proof rejecting the integrative role of academic achievement on professional success. From my point of view, educational institutions should play as collaborative partners in guiding students towards the field of their interests rather than depriving them of chances to fulfill their dream.

Though education is the source of mind-feeding nourishment for the society, due to the varied advancement and ideologies, it has been grounded diversely across nations. There are basically two main streams of teaching paradigm, namely ‘knowledge based’ and ‘interest based’. ‘Knowledge based’ methodology is widely adopted by most Asian counterparts as suggested by an orthodox ‘A book holds a house of gold’. Reading context prevails over experimental and practical undertakings with information acquired in a verbatim manner, resulted in the lack of aspirational understanding. This genre of educational system worship academic credential by student’s mere capability to memorize and replicate paper-knowledge, which have proved to jeopardize students potent to interact in real- environment. The most conspicuous evident could be observed in the scenario of learning a foreign language. Asian students are known to be accelerated in their writing and reading skills while communication has always been the downfall hindering the growth of these individuals in a global pool of talents. These form of educational approach is inefficient in even assessing current existential demand, left alone guiding the student towards the right career path as they claim. However, one might argue that, due to the lack of educational resources, educational institutions should have the right to dissuade unqualified or incompetent students in order to secure a sustainable workforce. The assertion could be absolutely plausible to public institutions where government subsidies are scarce to tolerate any degree of educational freedom. Otherwise, the choice should be handed to the one helming.

Referring to the ‘Interest based’ methodology, let’s take a look at the icon of liberty, the United States, in which freedom is amplified across all aspects of life. Respecting the interest to learn and curiosity to invent, the American dream has always been the golden field for scholars and practitioners. Most American institution provides much higher flexibility for academic matrix, which grants students with possibilities to mix-and-match their own unique package. The key principle is that they would not try to psych you out if your intelligent level is not doing you a favor, contrarily, persistency and dedication to succeed are encouraged. Does this sounds ideal? The system as well being questioned with the advent of ‘drop-outs’ miracles as Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft), Steve Jobs (founder of Apples Technology), John Mackey (founder of Whole Foods Market), forcing us to contemplate the ultimate impact of education on our career success. As a matter of fact, there are no lack of proof that scholarly achievement is not the only road to success. In the case of Jack Ma (founder of e-commerce company- Alibaba), with his dreadful performance in school, he has encountered countless rejection in life, most renown by Harvest- one of the most respectable institution in the world who has as well misread the signal of an ingenious entrepreneur. However, excessive liberals conceded another social downfall with the spur of dropouts spiked over 1.2 million and 25% of high school freshmen fail to graduate from high school on time.

Currently, neither restriction nor freedom provided by education institutions seems to guarantee success. Conclusion being drawn is that no academic systems appeared to be self-sufficient enough to actuate their right to deprive students of their desire in any field. Yielding the balance of providing enough guidance, flexibility and support would be the ultimate solution to avoid latent outcomes or chaotic outbreak in our education system.