Introduction
As teenagers approach college or university
level, a decision has to be made on what course to pursue for further
3, 5 or 7 years of study. In this world of diverse specializations, it
can be an overwhelming task to make such choice for both the children
and parents.
In the olden days, it was not too much a problem
to make a choice as 1) there were not so many diverse knowledge
domains to choose from, and there were a few distinctive professional
careers like doctor, engineer, accountant, nurse, teacher, etc. to
think about, 2) in the old world of stability and certainty, most
higher learning led to successful economic life, 3) the cost of
education was not so prohibitively high.
Today world is entirely different from what was
just described.
Selection Criteria
There are many variety of career talks,
university / colleges open days, well organized student counseling
workshops to guide and help teens made up their minds to pursue a
course of several years to completion.
Again in the old world, the selection criteria
were simple : what is the teenager’s interest, which course will
have more jobs opportunities in the future, what type of jobs can make
more money?
Although the criteria can still be applied in
today world, it is not so straightforward. Most teenagers have
difficulty to identify their own interests, current job scenario is a
constant changing landscape in the sense that jobs can become
redundant overnight with new type of jobs most academic institutions
do not yet have the syllabus to teach, what sunset industry may wipe
of certain types of jobs, let alone making more money or higher
salary.
There are other techniques used beside the usual
road show, talk or student counseling sessions. A psychological
profile mapping is also used whereby certain instruments like
questionnaire, survey, interview, computer-software are used to
determine the thinking preference, interest-inclination, or learning
types of the students.
Another Perspectives
With best intention and efforts, students made
their choice of study. Over years, as happened to today professional
or vocational employee, there are much regret, misfit, loss of jobs
due to retrenchment, downsizing, or simply obsolete knowledge and
skills, or changing technology or industries. This is not only a
regretting situation, but miseries after years of study and high costs
of education fees invested, affecting current live-style and
livelihood.
This requires another perspectives or
frame-of-mind to make sense of the matter of earning for a decent
living.
Generally, students,
parents, counselors, career-talk speakers have a future time-frame
that is focusing on the career life span. This itself presents a
problem that is usually realized when the career-person reaches older
age, say, before or during retirement.
The underlying thinking
is that : my choice of course to study, with all the discipline and
high education costs, is to secure a good job for a decent living.
Looking at the
time-frame again, if we take average retirement age as 55, then there
is 30 years of career life, and 20 years of retirement life.
Then an important
question needs to be raised: Should we invest with 5-7 years of study
and high education costs to acquire the necessary knowledge and
skills, just to cater for 30 years of career life? What about the
reminding 20 years of post-career life?
Today we also witness
much instability and uncertainty during the 30-year of career life. We
also observe many highly educated retiree do not have the appropriate
knowledge and skills to manage their 20-year of retirement life
creatively, productively and meaningfully.
If only at an earlier
age, children are guided by adults to ponder the future scenarios with
larger time-frame as one of the factors for decision making in
choosing the course that has the generic skills to carry through the
complete life!
(Likewise, today
working adult, near-retirement or retiree will have to put in more
effort in thinking and acquiring relevant knowledge and skills to
complete their intended fulfilled life.)
Another frame of mind
which is not prevalent among those who have to decide on making a
choice of course to study, nor among the parents / guidance helping
the teens to make such decision is a more complete making-a-living
model.
Typically most are
thinking of choosing a course to study in relation to what are the
future jobs demand and prospects. Hence the thinking model is more of
earning a living as an employee.
This is a limiting
thinking model, which may lead to many regret experienced by today
adults.
Here, Robert
Kiyosaki’s 4-quadrant living model is useful to be introduced to
children at earlier age, namely:
1.
Employee
2.
Self-Employed
3.
Business Owner
4.
Investor
(Note: elaboration of
the above is in another article)
When the above thinking
model is used, a larger horizon is open up for exploration and
investigation.
Each quadrant needs not
be a fixation by itself. One can migrate from one to another over
different phases of life, or one can combine the different quadrants
strategically.
An important point is,
at the earlier exposure, one can expand their mind in trying out the
different quadrant of making a decent living, paying attention to
acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills.
An Example
A teenager has inclination to science, logic and
rational thinking. He chooses automation engineering as his course of
study. It can be satisfying for him to carry out project and
experimentation on say, automating a manufacturing process in an
assembly line. With good degree or doctorate, say, he gets hired by a
large manufacturing company. Again there is much job satisfaction in
term of technical challenges.
Then a few scenarios set in :
As he gets more and more engrossed in the
technical world, he tends to neglect on human skills and management
capability. There will be limiting career advancement. As age catches
up, he feels a great disadvantage especially seeing other in
non-technical field become more successful financially.
Or, he somehow also picks up some management
skills, and climbs up the career ladder to fairly high position.
Suddenly there is economic downturn or closing down of that particular
industry. Job security gets threatened.
Or, he somehow gets through the career life
successful, and retires with handsome economic benefits. He soon
realizes that he has been in the corporate world too long, accustomed
to the corporate language and rituals which are not so relevant in the
day to day social and community life. There is no more higher career
ladder as goals in life to climb. He finds himself a misfit in this
universe for the rest of his life, wondering through life without a
goal and purpose, and waiting for the final day!
(The above sounds too negative a picture. But,
do make a careful observation around in today world. Will tomorrow
world for our children be more uncertain and unpredictable?)
Alternative Scenarios
The same boy still chooses automation engineering
course. Well guided by adults on timeframe of the future and
making-living model. While he enjoys the day today technical work with
logic and rational thinking, he also ponders on different
living-quadrants.
While still an employee, he will be mindful of
paying more attention on what competency to establish to be
self-employed, business owner or investor in the related field,
technology or know-how or divert to totally different areas.
He may also think of picking up generic skills
that can still propel him into his retirement life.
Vision-Driven
When action, behavior, decision making and energy
are vision driven, mapping the future scenarios and acquiring the
necessary competency, one will have better ability to take control of
his or her life and destiny.
One cannot be too naïve to use the above concept
with one or two briefing sessions to a teenager to help him to make a
intelligent choice of course to study. The above suggested thinking
framework needs to be regularly applied by stakeholders throughout the
various phases of life to crystallize the desired visions of the
future.
The message is, the sooner one develops into such
reflective habit, the better the chance a person can create the type
of future he or she sincerely desires.
{Note: This QuaSyLaTic writer is applying the
above concept to his present life, after having lived 50 years. Life
long learning indeed, with the view of accelerated learning for the
younger ones)
End.
QuaSyLaTic,
Andrew, andrew@360q.com
