To be: a doctor, an engineer, a researcher or not to be: a journalist, a dancer, a singer, an artist, a photographer….

The dubiety of choosing a stream, a degree, and a job has plagued students, college graduates and adults alike. They sit at a precipice, wondering whether they should make the choice for their parents and family, and plunge into the void of unhappiness and dissatisfaction that may affect their lives negatively, or make the decision themselves and choose to turn back to the safety of the cliff.

In India, given the mentality of the society, students can rarely choose the latter (i.e. make their own choice). The entire Indian education system, parents, and teachers are burdening children with exorbitantly high expectations, and making them believe they aren’t supposed to fail in any of their endeavours, even when the child is not interested and not doing well in it. This leads to the belief that smart kids will automatically go for science, average for commerce, and below average, humanities. Parents believe that every child’s intellectual capacity is the same as the other, and that high intelligence is always associated with studying and scoring well.

This leaves no room for creative, logical, linguistic, intra and inter-personal and artistic development in the child. He becomes a mindless robot, designed to please and follow orders from everyone, especially parents. A college graduate faces a similar but different dilemma, to take up a job of his choice, or the one his parents chose for him. He visits the precipice, and ponders for a long time, and given the pressure of parents and society, he decides to take the plunge.

Although, there are parents who understand that there is a choice in education, and their children are capable of making decisions for themselves, but the majority tends to force or manipulate their kids into letting go of their dreams and ambitions and passions, and take the path that’ll make them richer. This obviously isn’t right. It’s time for them to understand, that following our heart and passion, although won’t make us richer, but it’ll make us happy.

Some of us are not good at memorizing chemical equations, or sitting at boring desk jobs, we’d prefer to play football or paint out our emotions and feelings on a canvas. Times are changing, and students and adults can choose and do whatever they want, they have their roles in the world, and different forms of happiness, and being exceptional and making different choices from everyone else isn’t bad, it just makes them unique.

So, to be or not to be, that is the question.