Career decision at 15 absurd

THE EDITOR: “The rational part of the teen’s brain isn't fully developed and won’t be so until 25 or so” (Joseph Campellone MD, Raymond Kent Turley BSN MSN RN, urmc.rochester.edu).

With this in mind, it is not difficult to begin to see the absurdity that is forcing a student to select a secondary school at age 11 and the subjects that would define their career at age 15. When a student is forced to make such significant decisions at such an early stage in life, it guarantees that they will be bottled into a career path that would be difficult to change later on.

At age 11, children are asked to select secondary schools for their Secondary Entrance Assessment. This decision, however, is often made for the student based on the parents' ambitions rather than the child’s. These parental choices seldom take into consideration the fact that many subjects aren't offered by every secondary school. If the student wishes to pursue the arts, vocational practices or even certain languages, they are not guaranteed to get that opportunity. This also limits the student’s career options.

Over a decade ago, the then chief secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, Orville London, in his feature address to a TTUTA function, stated that students should select a career on what would be in demand ten years later rather than what is sought after at presently.

This advice is often contradicted when students are forced to choose subjects at age 15, often making their decisions based on the current employment meta rather than extrapolating job market demands as they lack the rational to do so.

These issues then begin to beg several questions, such as:

1. How is it fair to ask an 11-year-old child to make the decision that decides the course of their life when the vast majority of students do not even realise this exclusivity with certain subject options?

2. Is it the expectation of our supposed modern education system that children, at age 11, should have an in-depth working understanding of economics and sociopolitical occurrences in the nation before they begin to fight for their dreams?

3. Is it the lack of aid provided to those 15-year-old students to show them the rational way of selecting subjects and careers the reason for the high dropout rate across the nation?

STEVON JAGGASAR

student