India’s Youth, Decision-Making for Their Major: Their Choice or Somebody Else’s?

India is a democratic country, full of choices and opportunities. Freedom of choice is a birth right. Still, guidance and advice from elders or adults is required by everyone.

This included today’s youth. In this modern age, where youngsters wish to rebel against traditions and culture, certain aspects of life draw them in the direction where decision-making is not in their hands.

One such aspect of their life is career choice. Today’s generation is very much inclined towards name, fame and money and wish to acquire a job, which provides them all at a very early stage. However, to do this, young people, especially in India, need to have the right degree from the right institution.

Millions of teenagers in India, awaiting their 12th Board results, have a desperate aspiration to score more than 90% to get into the right course. Engineering or medical courses are the top favourite among students as both are traditionally well-respected and well-reputed fields.

Hence, choice or preference for a particular subject or course is not an option for students anymore. What really matters is what everyone else is doing. A student said: “Everyone tries for engineering at least once in their life as it is considered as a safer option.”

There is a massive craze for engineering all around the country with a handful of government affiliated colleges while the rest are private institutions. Parents are willing to spend more than a considerable amount of money to send their offspring into the right course or field.

So, in this respect, parents are one of the major factors that influence a student into the area of study he or she wishes to choose. A young person has no or very little choice in this matter. Being parents, they think the best for their children, in turn neglecting their offspring’s desires and perhaps fulfilling their own dreams. For parents, engineering or medical is a prestigious field and something to boast about in front of family and friends.

Apart from parents, the school and especially teachers play a major role in influencing a student. Teachers, while acting as a guiding light, reinforce their values and ideals upon young students. They create an aura around them constantly reflects their own views on a courses and colleges.

The mass media too has a part to play in a student’s search for the right career option.

Media provides immense exposure for its audience in turn creating role models for the public especially for the younger generation. Media acts as an ideological state apparatus, manipulating or influencing youngsters of India. They will buy Coca Cola which Aishwarya Rai Bachhan drinks or the Yamaha bikes that John Abraham rides.

Similarly, the mass media has created such a huge hype around Tata, Birla and Ambani and companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro, that youngsters’ want to blindly follow those footsteps and have a status quo.

No matter the capability, the ambition is the same for everyone; to have a position in society. The media ideologically constantly reinforces the dominant values of society or of the ruling class.

‘Friends forever’, is a term used by the young people in almost in every sentence. Hence, it should not come as a surprise that peer pressure impacts all students. Nobody wishes to break out of their social circle and looks for options around them.

Friends can sometimes be the only influence upon a teenager. During a group discussion, a girl said: “I joined this course because my friends were joining it.”

The same case can be viewed in Farhan Akhtar’s film ‘Lakshya’. Superstar Hrithik Roshan changes his career choices in the movie according to the choices his friends make. Nevertheless, his own determination and will power succeeds him in the end.

Therefore, a student’s life in India is constantly pressurized by factors ranging from parents to teachers to the mass media to their friends. Career decisions become an obligation rather than interest. Young people, who aspire to be different, become all the same. The route is identical for everyone, engineering and medical being the top priority.

Nonetheless, not all routes are closed yet. India like many western countries has started introducing courses ranging from travel and tourism to public relations management. Degrees have become more practical rather than theoretical in many places. Students can connect their course with their everyday life.

Though, there are a number of influences and factors affecting the decision making process for young people, there are still a number of routes available for them to follow their ambitions and fulfil their desired dreams.