Which is your bowl and who will choose it for you ?

R.T. Johnson Raih *

Suspense is in the air in Manipur! Politically speaking, although the question who will be the CLP leader has been unveiled, the question as to who will be what in the new council of ministers is being awaited. Educationally speaking, the HSLC and HSS examinations had just got over and the student community waits for the result declaration with bated breathe. Some anticipates checking their names in the topper's list while some other waits to check if they wrote just enough to make it through.

Parents and guardians after much effort of nurturing and coaching their children now look forward to the 7: 30 news or the morning bicycle bell. Principals, teachers and coaching centres are also not excluded from the ongoing drama. They wait for the result like a hen waiting for the eggs to hatch. How many will crack the shells and come out triumphantly, while how many will remain silent and disappoint the mother is the question.

As the trend of admission to a particular school is dependent on the Board and Council examination results, administrators and Principals are also not excluded from the 'common suspense' (though the right and the wrong of this trend may be debated upon). The key sentence of the season is 'Waiting in Suspense'! In this context of the state's scenario, the writer would like to emphasis on the education and career perspective as an educationist in this short write up.

Who will choose your bowl for you? Who will select what is good for you? Who will decide the fourth (not in terms of superiority) most important decision for you (someone said that the other three important decisions are; what will your name be, which God will you choose to worship and whom will you marry?) Keeping aside these other important questions (as regards your name, you already have one, don't you?) for the moment, whose decision will you follow when you reach the crossroad of career selection?

Should a student follow his intuition, reason, or parents' desire? How much should one follow one's heart, one's reasoning capacity and one's parental advice? A healthy balance of the three, apart from others if there is, will go a long way in helping the young people choose the right bowl. Except for illiterate and unschooled parents, the children have no other better guide to help them choose their career bowls. Even in the case of illiterate and unschooled parents, the children cannot neglect their advices because though the English alphabets, words and numbers may seem foreign to them, the experience of life and elderly gems of wisdom are often on their lips.

Most parents know the interest of their children like the palm of their hands. No parents will do anything that would harm and destroy the life and future of their children. Therefore, to keep one's parents close to their heart and confidence will be a very wise and matured decision on the part of the students when they are faced with the complex reality of career selection.

However, having said that it blinds all logic to see some parents deciding for the children what career they should choose. Sometimes parents can be very insensitive and make the children pursue the career they themselves failed to achieve. In other words, they want to re-live their dreams again through their children. Sometimes they want to make their children pursue a career that is the 'in thing' in the society despite the reluctance of the children.

At other times some parents want their children to follow the same profession as themselves for the sake of continuity of family tradition. Some parents with many children arbitrarily assign the children to follow a specific career as though they were dividing breakfast or lunch for them. In all these if the children are OK with the decision of the parents the writer has no objection.

But it breaks a principal's heart to see the student looking back at his/ her parents in confusion, when the principal asks this question, 'Is it your decision or your parents decision to take up this stream?' No matter how important the opinion and suggestion of the parents may be, in the final analysis, it is the decision of the student that should prevail. It will help him withstand the storms, tests and various challenges of life.

Otherwise, when the rainy days of life come and wintry hands of discouragements squeezes you, you will blame others by passing the bug of responsibility and never willing to accept ownership and take the bull by the horns. It is disheartening to see a particular student or a group of students coming year after year to the school for examination form fill up as he/ they had been repeatedly failing to clear the HSS examination because of the wrong choice of subject/ stream during admission. I wonder if it were because of the students' negligence and laziness, the students' foolhardy choice or the parents' suicidal interference. Perhaps, this will remain a mystery!

On what basis or foundation should a career be selected? To work hard and improve on something that you are not confident in or to pursue that thing which you are most passionate about and which you can constantly excel and develop upon? Most people may prefer the latter one! Instead of wasting one's time, resources and energy on something you know you cannot excel as much as the other options. Isn't it more profitable to invest on something you know you can have your stamp of authority?

In the past, education had been inclusive, in the sense a person needed to know all sciences, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and many others but today things are different. Today our educational system and our new world order (LPG) leans towards professionalism. It was Howard Gardner who introduced the multiple intelligences theory.

He said that human beings have very different kinds of intellectual strengths. These strengths are important in the way how people learn and how people represent things in their minds and to show what they have understood. If every human being has the same mind and only one kind of intelligence, then we can teach everybody the same thing in the same way and assess them in the same way and that would be fair. But once we have realized that people have different kinds of mind, different kinds of strength then education which treat everybody the same way is actually the most unfair education.

Because you pick up one kind of mind, say law professor mind and say if you think like that, great, if you don't like that you have no room here. Since different children are gifted in different ways his multiple intelligences theory (7 intelligences) helps for parents with ways to identify a child's gift and for students to narrow down and aim for the bull's eye.

Firstly, 'Linguistic intelligence' involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically; and language as a means to remember information.

Writers, poets, lawyers, speakers, journalists, trainers, copy-writers, English teachers, editors, linguists, translators, PR consultants, media consultants, TV and radio presenters, voice-over artistes etc. fall in this category. Secondly, 'Logical-mathematical intelligence' consists of the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations,... and investigate issues scientifically. Here people can detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically.

This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking. You can become a scientist, engineers, computer experts, accountants, statisticians, researchers, analysts, traders, bankers, insurance brokers, directors etc.

Thirdly, 'Musical intelligence' involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. You can become musicians, singers, composers, DJ's, music producers, piano tuners, acoustic engineers, entertainers, party-planners, environment and noise advisors, voice coaches etc. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms.

Fourthly, 'Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence' entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. You could become dancers, demonstrators, actors, athletes, divers, sports-people, soldiers, fire-fighters, performance artistes; fishermen, drivers, crafts-people; gardeners, chefs, healers, adventurers etc.

Fifthly, 'Spatial intelligence' involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. You could become artists, designers, cartoonists, story-boarders, architects, photographers, sculptors, town-planners, visionaries, inventors, engineers, cosmetics, beauty consultants etc.

Sixthly, 'Interpersonal intelligence' is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counsellors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence. You could become a therapists, HR professionals, mediators, leaders, counsellors, politicians, educators, sales-people, clergy, psychologists, teachers, doctors, healers, organisers, carers, advertising professionals, coaches and mentors.

Seventhly, 'Intrapersonal intelligence' entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. Arguably, anyone who is self-aware and involved in the process of changing personal thoughts, beliefs and behaviour in relation to their situation, other people, their purpose and aims, fall in this category.

In the past we talk about IQ (Intelligent Quotient) alone. A person's 'educatedness' is most tested when his intellectual capacity is threatened by his emotional imbalance and absence of spiritual values. Daniel Goleman (1990s) believes that EQ makes us aware of our feelings and that of others. It gives empathy, motivation, compassion and an ability to respond skilfully to pleasure and pain. Goleman argued that EQ was a basic requirement for the use of IQ.

A person may be very intelligent but if he is not able to manage his emotion well he will compromise all his intellectual property and achievements. On the other hand, authors Dana Zohar and Ian Marshall introduced a new dimension to human intelligence which is the SQ (Spiritual Quotient). SQ is the ultimate intelligence, they claim. This is the intelligence used to solve problems of meaning, value, truth, honesty, purpose in life etc. "Is my job giving me the fulfilment I seek?" "Am I relating to the people in my life in a way that contributes to their happiness and mine?" These are the kinds of questions that are asked by SQ.

Climbing a ladder that is leaning against the wall comes to my mind when I think of wrong career selection. You can climb and climb until you reach a considerably high altitude or almost the end of the ladder and then realize that the ladder had been leaning on the wrong side of the wall. As the career you choose will be with you for half of your life, though your world may not crumble down by choosing a wrong career, you may end up being an ungrateful and unsatisfied person throughout your life.

And then it may also lead you to keep jumping from one job to another. Recognition of your interest, aspiration and strength while selecting your career will be helpful in making you avoid becoming a whimpering and regretful human being. It is common sense that while considering a career one has to consider more options; excessive pride is hurtful; acting while angry is dangerous and buying more time to reflect is essential.

Having said that, any plan without God will be like building a house on the sinking sand. God wants us to have an abundant life and not necessarily a successful career. An extremely successful man from the perspective of his career say for example a civil servant, a doctor or an engineer may earn a lot of money and have a lofty social reputation.

But he may end up being the most corrupted and dissatisfied man in the inside. In contrast, a person with an average income with a career most people may not boast about may enjoy an abundant life in the work place, and also with the family, friends, neighbours, society etc.

In the final analysis therefore, it is contentment with godliness as wise people say, is the philosopher's stone to live a satisfied life and the elixir for peaceful existence. May you choose the right bowl that you may not only eat from it but share it with the people around you! Happy Choosing !