- Educational institutions should actively encourage their students to choose fields of study in which jobs are plentiful.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.________________________________________
In saying that educational institutions should encourage their students to pursue fields of study in which jobs are plentiful, the statement claims students should be guided by a clear direction more than their personal interests. In some sense, it is hard to deny that learning for learning’s sake is an outdated concept and that good teachers are those who can inform their students about the jungle of the reality. However, I still believe that schools are not a factory to manufacture an effective robot which performs whatever demanded but a place in which dreams and personal ideals germinate and mature.
Of course, few would disagree that it is one of the most important duties for educators to lead students to be focused on what they are really suited for especially in their future careers. In our modern society which worships only efficiency, job markets do not want an idealist whose dreams are frequently cacophonous to the functional efficiency of each specialized skill. In this environment, anyone who lacks a special skill preferred from the market will run greater risk to be excluded from the society. If a teacher could not provide some valuable advices to avoid the unfortunate situation, he or she seems to deserve criticisms.
Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that a good teacher should require her students to sacrifice their passions, ideals, and imaginations. With regard to creation of a novel dimension in human endeavor, it seems critical to respect one’s own dream and passion. What if Bill Gates followed the conventional path of learning at his own time? By being encouraged to defy the traditional wisdom—in this case, a smart student usually chooses his field of study at those fields that promise lucrative future careers such as law or business—he could open the new world of computer, a field that many saw as an impractical and quixotic enterprise, though it itself now becomes a field for many lucrative jobs.
Furthermore, in terms of resiliency at the time of predicaments, pursuit of personal interests is more beneficial than following the secure chance for lucrative jobs. Personally, for example, I, a Korean student who dreams of being a truly informed scientist in the field of XXX might have compromised with the huge walls of GRE and the general English skill, without the longstanding ideal; instead of lamenting and complaining about all the obstacles, the mere fact that I am doing what I really want to do rather than what I should do for a profitable job continuously electrifies me and helps me to overcome those difficulties.
To sum, despite the pressure from the efficiency-first modern culture, the possibilities of either creating a truly new realm for the rest of the world or presenting true courage under the adversities of life tell us that the essence of good education is less practical attitude than respect for personal ideals. Once again, in my belief, schools are not factories to produce high-performance robots.