|
It’s best to be a scientist, say youth
Mumbai February 27 : By Hemali Chhapia/TNN
Mumbai: Going by a recent study among youths nationwide, scientific jobs are rated as the most prestigious—several notches above the medical and legal professions and far above others such as architects, chefs and financial managers.
If the study is any indication, India’s tomorrow worships Einstein and Stephen Hawking, and seems to have a conservative outlook as far as career is concerned. It may be fashionable and lucrative to be a gourmet chef in a five-star hotel, but it
measures low in terms of prestige for a vast majority. Parents, too, don’t quite approve of these careers.
Whether it’s the popularity of Kalpana Chawla’s achievements or merely the Swades effect, teens rank the occupation of a scientist highest on the ‘prestige’ list, concludes the study ‘Work Orientations and Responses to Career Choices: Indian Regional Survey’.
The survey conducted among 5,000 youths across 12 states including Maharashtra, shows that the prestige associated with a science-oriented career cuts across age, gender, region and social economic status. “52% of the low, 53% of middle and 58% of the uppermiddle class rated science as ‘quite interested’ or ‘very interested’,’’ the study says.
However, in terms of interest, self-efficacy and parental approval, a career in engineering ranks first followed by computer science and then medicine.
Ratings for lawyers, police officers, biotechnologists, financial managers and CAs were rated prestigious but scored low in terms of interest, parental approval and self-efficacy. Professions like social work
are seen as the worst option.
The authors say counsellors often get cases of young people from the middle classes who were forced to choose careers that were popular and ‘in-demand’ but who later discovered that their real interest and talents lay elsewhere. The number of people who express such dissatisfaction with career choices is alarmingly high.
The study was conducted in the 13-19 age group of students from ICSE, CBSE and state board by The Promise Foundation, Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the British Council.
|
| Source: Time NewsNetwork |
|
|
