ISSUES

1. Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students

from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed.

Education is the most important factor behind the success and over all
development of a person. Many countries have a high illiteracy rate
making them incompetent in full development. Educational institutes
are the driving force behind providing quality education and also honing
the various skills of an individual. In a country like India where there are
a number of educational institutes with a vast variety of professional
courses educational industry has become one of the major industries.
I believe that educational institutes have a major responsibility towards
the overall success and development of a student in a particular field.
They are responsible to provide quality education to nurture the growth
of the student and make them an outstanding professional in their field
of choice. They have the resources and the knowledge to help the
student in the correct path of success and achievement. But i disagree
with the argument that educational institutes have a responsibility to
dissuade students from pursuing field of study in which they are unlikely
to succeed.
No matter how learned or knowledgeable a person is they do not have a
right to judge anyone. They may be poor critiques in finding the true
potential of an individual. Take the instance of michael jordan. He was
kicked out of his high school basketball team because his sports coach
thought he is a poor performer but later on he became to be known as
the brightest basketball player of the country. It may so happen that a
person recognize their potential later in the stage of life and hence if
demotivated in the crucial years of college , they may grow to develop
low self esteem.
The meaning of success is very vast and different from person to person.
For some success may mean being rich and monetarily sound, for some
it may mean reaching the heights of their creative potential and for
some success may mean being socially sound and understanding ones
own potential. In India , for example, due to the high poverty rate there
are many students who are told from a young age that they are to be
the bread earners for the family. This burden to achieve financial
stablilty for the family causes many to take up professional courses like
engineering and MBBS without much interest so as to be placed good
and help to support their family. They may not be brilliant i their field or
the brightest mind in their college class but their hunger for money may
make them good engineers/ doctors, so to dissuade them from entering
a professional life in this field may be a judgmental decision on the part
of the educational institute.
If a student is dissuaded they may never make an effort to ever try doing
something they are not good at and this will lead to deep impact in their
all round development. The fear of being discouraged is such that the
student may stop even applying their brains to a problem to solve on
their own. It is said that a person only learns from their mistakes. No
successful human being would have reached to that peak of success
without committing a mistake, accepting it, learning from it and making
it right the next time. Thus till the time a student is not given an
opportunity to explore their potentials they may never be able t achieve
success and happiness.
Thus educational institutes should not dissuade a student from
continuing in the field in which they are likely to not succeed but provide
various opportunities and platform of growth so that they realize their
potential themselves and learn to become better individuals and
citizens.