Choosing a career
This is the knotty problem that worries the fathers of boys
and young men as they near the
conclusion of their school or college education;
and which troubles the youths themselves, if they are old enough to realize its
difficulty and the importance of its right solution. There is this to be said
for the Hindu caste system, that it settles from birth what each child’s work
in life is to be; for long custom has decided that he must follow the caste
occupation of his father before him. But the caste system is weakening; and for
all who are not under its domination, the problem of the choice of career
remains.
Now the choice of a
career is limited by various considerations: for example, the income of the
father, the future prospects of the various possible
professions, and the
mental ability and the inclination of the youth.
A rich man can
afford to pay the expenses of training his son for any
profession for which the
young man seems to be adapted; but a poor man, and even a man of moderate
means, has not enough money to have his son trained as a doctor, a lawyer, an
engineer, or an officer in the army, unless the boy is clever enough to win
good scholarships. He has to be content to select humbler vocations for his
sons.
Even when money is
no object to the father, he has to consider the future prospects of the various
professions open to his sons. Some professions provide opportunities to a
clever and diligent youth to rise, not only in wealth, but in social status and
political influence; while others, while quite good and respectable in
themselves, lead to nothing. A father, or the young man himself, will
naturally, other things being equal, choose a profession that will lead to advancement.
Lastly, the
inclination and ability of the young man must be considered. It is no use
trying to put a square peg into a round hole. It is absurd to try to force an
active, restless lad who is keen on a life of adventure, to sit at a lawyer’s
desk all his life; or to try to make a business man out of a thoughtful and
dreamy youth, who has the artistic gift of authorship or painting. The youth’s
character and bent, and natural abilities in certain lines, must be studied;
and that profession chosen for him in which he is most likely to succeed.
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