One of the members of my extended family has a young teenage son who is faced with the choice all middle class kids face in India – the choice between science, arts or commerce streams after their 10th standard board exams.
I would like to make a pitch for encouraging your kids to choose the Arts stream after their 10th. I have my own experience to back me up but first I will let you read what one of my favorite authors, James Michener, has to say on the subject:
Goddammit I wish you would listen to my main argument. Thirty years from now the governments, the banks, the important businesses, the universities and everything that counts in this world will be run by today’s humanities majors. The scientists will never run anything except laboratories, they never have, they never can. Yet in this University we spend all our time and money training scientists and we ignore all the humanities people on whom the welfare and guidance of the world have always depended and will always depend. I say this is stupidity, and if the Board of Regents and the faculty are not smart enough to stop it, we must.
Drifters: A Novel : Michener, James A., Berry, Steve: Amazon.in: Books
Ok, so that is Michener’s take on the subject. What can I add from my own experience? It is as under:
- First, if your kid doesn’t take up the science stream (s)he will be – almost certainly – handicapped from going to the USA for further education with the intention to settle in the West. This was true in the 1980s when I was a student. The situation has changed somewhat but to escape the politics and authoritarianism in India it is still better to go West. As far as career prospects are concerned it is possible that India offers good opportunities. But quality of life is better in Europe and the USA. Anyone who has commuted in Mumbai traffic will agree.
It is possible now to go west to study further even without choosing the science stream but you may have to take on expensive loans for undergraduate studies. I think scholarships are more easily available for the science stream. - Next obviously there will be much competition for top posts in Government,the top multinationals and so on. If you have mastered a technical skill it is easier to make a good living. If you put all your eggs on one day running a multinational you may be limiting your career options.
- Next there may be hostility if you take up English literature for example for ultra patriotic people in India who cannot see beyond Indian culture and are hostile to western cultural influence.
- But all these career related matters may be less important than the education you get by taking up humanities. Ultimately we are here to live life, not to make money and we may be victimized anywhere (even in the West). Choosing the science stream will teach you how to make a living but choosing humanities will teach you how to live. Spending time with good books is like doing an internship for life. The value of this cannot be overstated.
- So what are the reasons for my claim?
a) By reading good literature you come in contact with role models with guile, resourcefulness, courage, ethics and decency. You may or may not be able to spend time with or even encounter such role models outside your books and reading. For example reading about great leaders in history.
b) You learn how to deal with yourself and how to deal with people. You learn a balanced outlook to the challenges and trials of life, learn to be gentle with yourself (and others) and learn to treat people with humanity and justice.
For more on the transforming qualities of good books and literature read the last chapter of the book below. Amongst other things it tells the story of how the great American president Abraham Lincoln went about his intellectual development. It will leave you completely inspired. And what applies to English literature also applies to Hindi or Urdu literature. Or any other language:
How to Develop Self-Confidence & Influence People By Public Speaking : Dale Carnegie: Amazon.in
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