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Don't
stick to just the 'safe' options in finding your chosen career… "I want
to be a guitar maker," says Milroy* who is quite determined
to go abroad and follow a three-year professional course in guitar
making. "I have a passion for making guitars and that will
give me a lot of satisfaction," he says, trying to hint that
money comes second, but he agrees that it could be financially rewarding
too. 'Maybe you'll make a guitar for Bryan Adams one day?' I ask
him; and a hopeful smile is what I get for an answer. Jonathan* on
the other hand wants to be a studio engineer with a TV or Radio
station. "I These are just
two examples where some of our own friends are breaking the 'Doctor
- Engineer - Lawyer' pigeonhole (with its latest addition being
'IT professional'). "There are plenty of opportunities for
various types of jobs," says Harsha* who calls himself a "part-time
counsellor" in career guidance. It is ironic that when there
are plenty of employment opportunities (some of them requiring bold
and innovative individuals) that the country is facing unemployment
problems. "The education
system is partly to blame," thinks Harsha, who adds that it
is imbalanced and not 'broad' enough. "On the other hand, we
lack individuals who are daring enough to 'think different' and
do things differently," he adds with a hint of frustration
in his voice. Still it is hard to deny that the options available
are limited in many aspects. Mohamed illustrates
the other side of the story. "There is no way that an actor
would be able to earn his daily bread by acting alone," says
the part-time actor, part-time student of business studies. "There
is very little money in theatre and the arts in general, and you
can't expect to sustain yourself just being a professional actor."
He adds that there are very little opportunities for careers in
the performing arts, pointing out that there are no specialised
courses offered in theatre at university level. I found out
that the same is true about aspiring Astronomers. At a glance, our
university education seems to be very limited in the range of subjects
offered, a limitation that has shattered many youthful ambitions.
It is a system that has made Lawyers out of Astronomers, Bankers
out of Musicians and of course, Businessmen out of Actors, but I
wonder how long it will take and how many lives will have to be
sacrificed together with their hopes and dreams until things change? One avenue
that is quite popular now among school-leavers is "Management
Accounting" and "Marketing". Qualifications such
as CIMA and CIM attract thousands of young people every year. According
to Harsha, such qualifications broaden the scope of career options
and give them a "kick start" a couple of steps up in the
corporate ladder, but competition is very high. Sathsanda*
who completed his first year at Hotel School says that the hospitality
industry is a very rewarding place for those with a lot of perseverance.
"It is a field that has been badly neglected by many because
some consider it their last option," a pessimistic, yet stubborn
Sathsanda says, adding that, "It is a superb trade which lacks
the quality and class of people that is required." "It is
a field that has been somewhat ill-treated, but if and when the
war stops, this is the industry that will benefit most," he
comments, indicating that "trained professionals in the hospitality
trade will be in high demand in the near future." Opportunities
for higher education England, United
States and Australia seem to be the most popular choices among those
who are seeking to go abroad for higher studies, but countries like
Canada, New Zealand, India and Singapore have been somewhat overlooked
due to the lack of information. "Life is not easy with loads
of assignments, exams every week and vivas almost everyday"
says Samsudeen* who is 'reading' (he suggests I use the word 'suffering'
instead) for his MBBS in Bangladesh. "I have adopted a 'work
hard and play hard' policy" the aspiring Doctor says, trying
to sound worn out "but it is not all that bad. The Sri Lankan
community here is very good and we are all quite close. You sometimes
feel like you are close to home," he adds during a brief four-minute
call from Bangladesh. Kevin* who
chose the US says that it is a much better place than he thought.
"You have total freedom. So long as you remember where you
are from and the reason why you are there, you should be ok."
He is pursuing a 'major' in Genetics together with a 'minor' in
theatre. This demonstrates the wide spectrum of choices when it
comes to degrees available in such countries. In some of these cases,
the high cost still remains a restriction. There are many
institutions that offer degrees from foreign universities locally.
The expansion of these institutions provides proof of the fact that
they have become a popular option among school leavers. Here, great
care and consideration should go into choosing the right institution
that provides the right qualification that you are looking for.
Make sure that the university that offers the degree is reputed,
and look into how they monitor the quality of education offered
at the local institution. Sudharshini*,
who just finished her second year at a private institution where
she is studying for a degree in management, missed Law Faculty by
just two marks at the A/L's. "I discussed it with my parents
before the Advance Level Exam and I realised that I wanted to do
management," she says "It would have been nice to be in
university with my friends, but I have no regrets because I had
already decided to do management at the institution I am studying
at now," she says with confidence, striking a very important
point in my mind - Don't keep regrets. There are plenty
of opportunities in this "big, big world", of ours and
it would be silly to keep regrets and let them drag us back with
their irritating voice telling us 'You could have done better' or
'You should have done that, instead of this'. Sudharshini
continues that "The first year of study was very good",
not so happy about how the second year progressed. "The lecturers
didn't seem all that interested and I think we were less attended
to during the second year," she adds. If you are
just after your A/L's and still clueless about what you want to
do with yourself... well the counsellors don't have much advice
to offer, other than the fact that you should try to discover what
you want to do with your life, and think about what you are good
at. While you wait you could use that time to teach yourself your
favourite musical instrument. Or you could work as a freelance journalist
for a weekend newspaper (now is that's what I did). But wait! I
think the best thing you can do is learn the fine art of social
dancing. Social dancing is a skill that will come in handy when
you least expect it and one of those dexterities you'll miss very
dearly when it matters. Trust me on this one... you won't regret
it!
The vivacity
of youth is bubbling within us. Our eyes that always surveyed the
world, now appraise the depths of our own hearts and souls. Simply
put; we don't fight with our siblings over a slab of chocolate anymore. Our hearts
are vulnerable to love but "hot chicks" or "cute
guys" don't have the same appeal they used to! Instead, we
look deep into their hearts. Our shoulders are laden with responsibility
and we are anxious about the future. I sometimes ask myself, "where
will I be in another five years... and where will my friends be
then?" It takes me a while to come to terms with the fact that
carefree teenage years have abandoned me in a complex, yet resourceful
world where mistakes are seldom forgiven. The happy days in school
had bidden me good-bye. I am discovering that being "twenty-something"
is tough... very, very tough. Most of us
have gone through key public exams. Though they seem to have stamped
the passport to our future, we know that this is far from the truth.
Some of us are looking out for jobs while others are knocking on
the doors of 'higher education' or savouring the romance of University
life. Some have great ambitions while others have chosen to tackle
one day at a time, but sometimes we feel as if we are all alone
in this huge world that life has thrown us into. This is the
time in our lives where we are expected to take important decisions
that stick for life. These decisions are a primary cause of pressure,
anxiety and helplessness that we face at this age. I remember discussing
with one of my friends, that there are no "right" or "wrong"
decisions in life... but what matters is what you do after you make
that decision and how you stand by it. More often than not, it is
up to us to make those decisions work for us. This is very different
to what we learned in the classroom where there was a clear-cut
answer for every question in the exam paper. The past few years
taught me that; in life, there are no clear-cut "rights"
or "wrongs". Answers to problems in real-life are more
complex. We need to gather all our (limited) experience and more
importantly all our courage to choose the answers that suits us
best. "Your choices are half-chances and so is everybody else's"
sings Buz Lurhman in his song 'Everybody's free to use sunscreen'.
Maybe you should listen to it, if you haven't done so already (but
it may not reflect my taste for music). "Young
people who are in their early twenties are new to the problems that
come with adulthood and it is difficult to single out a particular
set of anxieties that affect them most," says counsellor Rev.
Joseph calmly. He talks about the 34 years that he has served as
a youth counsellor as the most rewarding experience in his life.
"There is no better reward in life than to help young people
discover themselves, and see them soar to heights that I have only
dreamed of," he says with a satisfied smile. "Most
of the problems you face come with your age and the bottom line
is that nobody else can solve them for you. This is not to say that
you are alone in these tough times, but what others can do is just
show you the way... you have to walk the road even though it may
seem tough at times." "There
is no problem that you cannot solve for yourself. Young people are
very creative," he says reassuringly. "I see their creative
talents when I turn on the radio. They have to learn to apply this
creativity in their own lives. A creative mind is capable of finding
a creative solution to any problem," he explains opening my
mind to one of the most valuable lessons I've learned in the process
of writing this. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Sometimes
we are forced to be what we don't want to be.
want
to have my own studio one day, and I will make it the best studio
in the country," he says with a sparkle in his eyes.
