Freedom, fun and studies
The best part of life...
SCHOOL LIFE is over and now it is time to step into the college zone, which is something every youngster looks forward to. The reason is not hard to find: more freedom and lots more fun. But this is also a time when the youngsters make those crucial decisions in life pertaining to their careers and for this, it is important to join a good college.
With a few more days left for the announcement of the SSLC results, the students are already making their choices as to which colleges they want to join. In Bangalore, Christ College and St. Joseph's College are hot favourites for boys while girls look out for a place in Mount Carmel, Jyoti Nivas or Christ.
The criteria for selecting colleges differs. A few want a college close to home, others want good faculty and a college which has some recognition; but the one thing which is on the top of everyone's list is a college where the atmosphere is casual and fun. But no matter what the criteria, everyone wants to enrol in the best of institutions as they realise the importance of it in helping them decide their future career choices.
Ask the students whether PUC or ISC (Standard XII) is the better option. ISC definitely wins by a huge margin, but the number of applicants for it is fewer when compared to PUC, and the reason for this is that there is a general notion that ISC is tougher than PUC.
Faizya, a student of Sophia's, wants to continue doing her 11th and 12th there itself as she feels that she has grown accustomed to the place and will be able to settle there very easily, while Nitya, another student of Sophia's, wants to join ISC because it has international recognition. She feels that
ISC is the best option for those who plan to go abroad to study.
There are others who feel PUC is better than ISC. Divesh, an SSLC student, feels that PUC has a much more college-like atmosphere with much more freedom, which he his looking forward to eagerly. Many other students feel both options require equal amounts of hard work.
The youth today is more open minded and aware of the different options open to them as far as education is concerned. Gone are the days when the mindset was to strive for engineering or medicine. The youth is ready to explore and experiment.
"I want to study journalism tomorrow for which I have to do my arts now" said Nitya, while many others want to follow in their fathers' footsteps and join the family business. Sumanth Shailendra is one such person. "My father is in the movie business and I really like the work he does. It is really
interesting and fun too," he says. Ankitha Sukadya is another such person who prefers to accompany her father to the office than take up a job elsewhere.
Even though the career options to choose from are numerous, the science streams has not lost all of its lustre, as it is the only subject which opens out into an ocean of possibilities. The combination of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology (PCMB) is the most preferred choice even today. "I like science, I find it very interesting" says Nidhi.
In their search for a good college, the students have also started looking for a good place to go for tuitions. As the trend goes, the Pre-University Course is not complete without slogging it out at the tuitions. "I've heard a lot of my friends say that even in the best of colleges not all subjects are taught well. So, I do not want to take any chances," says Nidhi.
Most of the students entering the science stream have the same thing to add as they feel that science is a subject in which every additional information that they receive will help them tremendously in preparing for their final examinations. They want to take up additional coaching so that they can be thorough with their subject matter. "We have to anyway take up tuition for
CET as no college coaches you on that. Besides, in some tuition centres, you need to have taken coaching in PUC also if you want to be coached in CET. So, really, you have no option but to go for it," says Sunil, a ICSE student.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, this seems to be the notion with which today's youth work. They are ready to give academics their best shot by working as hard as they can. But alongside, they also want to have some fun, relax and enjoy life. In their lingo, what they call "just chill out."
With the explosion of job opportunities in various streams of business and starting salaries going up, the students are willing to struggle hard to get a dream job. Faizya is one of them.
"I like medicine and I don't mind struggling for it and accomplishing my dream. After all, not everything comes easy in life," she says. This is apparently the attitude of today's generation. "I don't want to be in a strict institution. I'm through with that. You know I just want to be free," says Divesh.
Many are a little reluctant to join colleges with strict rules and regulations, "A college shouldn't be strict, it must be open and friendly so that we can relax and think about our future," says Shenali.
These students don't seem to have any problems deciding what they want out of life and they do not require adult supervision to do it either. But there are a few who seem to be a bit confused as to what choices to make. The rest seems to have everything planned out.
MALAVIKA T.M.
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