In the footsteps of their parents

Does  the profession of a parent influence a student’s career? Metrolife takes a look.   
Parents can pass on their skills and work experience to their child if he or she is pursuing the same course.

Anusha Desai, a BBM student, says, “My mother is a BBM graduate and helps me understand the subject better. I want to pursue an MBA in entrepreneurship. My father is working in the police department and I am fascinated by his job as well. I want to become an IPS officer too. I hope that my dad’s experience and knowledge in the field will help me prepare well for the exams,” she says. 

Anusha feels more than compulsion, it’s the student’s passion that decides his or her career. She says students know better about their future than their parents. “When it comes to career choice, parents look at the booming trend and the salary, thinking that higher the salary, double the happiness. They should give freedom to their kids to choose their areas of interest and to excel in that field,” adds Anusha.

Even if some children are following in the footsteps of their parents, they say that it’s completely their choice. Though his father is a mechanical engineer, Boris D’Souza, a mechanical engineering student, says that it’s purely his decision.

“My dad never interfered or pressurised me to take up the course of his choice. He kept the options open for me. I was interested in designing and engineering from childhood. More than his influence, my interest in the subject forced me to take up this course,” he avers. Manu Kittane, another engineering student, shares the same opinion. He says that the profession of a parent doesn’t affect the child much.

“My father is an engineer but that doesn’t mean that I should also take up the same profession. As we can see, in any engineering college, there are students from different backgrounds. We can find many professionals in IT sector who are from the labour class. Students develop an interest in a subject because of  their passion rather than their parents’ job,” he opines. More than influence, it’s parental pressure that makes youngsters take up engineering course, points out Manu.

“I have seen nearly 20 to 30 per cent students join engineering only because of parental pressure. They find it difficult to complete the course and suffer a lot in their professional life,” he observes. But there are chances of students shifting their interest from their parents’ profession.

“Sometimes children get discouraged by their parents’ profession, especially if they are in the medical or media field. When parents are too stressed out or too busy to spend time with kids, they do not want to take up that profession,” concludes Anusha.