Life after 10th

Are you even desi enough if your parents didn’t tell you, “10th tak padai karle, uske baad aish hi aish hoga.”

Coming to think of it, it’s possible (but not easy.) It requires courage, both from the child and even more so from the parent.

This thought popped into my head three years ago in 2020:

10th grade gives you a basic education. If you’re not in CBSE, you’re most likely to move in one career direction and one alone. Even as you read this, you can immediately think of 2-3 popular streams your parents/relatives/tutors suggested to you after you passed 10th. Right?

There is nothing wrong with these streams. The only problem is the child is not presented with all the options, only the popular or ‘reputable’ ones.

A couple of decades ago, all these options made sense. But the times have changed.

Take engineering, for example.

Don’t get the wrong idea. Engineering is great. I love the course structure and the scope for innovation.

I am not even getting at lakhs of engineers graduating every year or the high unemployment percentage among engineers.

I have a problem with how many engineers are taking up the course just for the sake of it. It’s not because they’re interested, want to experiment, or figure out along the way. They take it up because everyone around them is taking up the same course, or their parents say this is best for them.

It’s not by choice.

We are not aware other options exist, which is why exploration in the gap year becomes crucial.

I am adding a bit of a personal motto into this, but I hold these opinions:

• You should enjoy what you do

• You should look forward to what you’re learning or building.

And it doesn’t happen if you are not curious about your course, career, or even a hobby.

The older you get, the more difficult the situations get to choose what you want to follow. Not every time you’ll have the luxury to quit a job and start something new. Or drop a course and take up another one.

But when you’re young, the risk appetite is higher. You can fuck up and start all over again, with much lesser damage.

I see my cousins and a few kids in my neighborhood pick up engineering and other popular fields, and their reasons make me feel sad for them.

They’re just doing it because they’ve been told to. There is hardly any curiosity (apart from seeing their crushes and chilling with friends; reminds me of my college days :p)

I even told my cousins to take a gap year. “The internet is vast, you can figure out most things from home, so just take a break and find out what excites you.”

I tell this with a disclaimer, “You’re not going to like this.” Still, their parents give me this judgemental look, giving a ‘You’re a bad influence on our child’ vibe.

(I kind of enjoy it, but anyway, that’s not the point.)

My point is:

As promising as it sounds, I don’t see this happening any time soon.

The earliest I see the gap years becoming ‘normal’ is when the late millennials or Gen Z become parents. We are more exposed to different career options, and we are witnessing folks not only experiment but succeed by choosing fields different from the mainstream ones.

We are most likely to believe in exploration, taking breaks, shifting careers, etc.

Or we might think exploration is best for everyone, but the kids might have a different opinion. Then we would become the parents with rigid beliefs, thinking what we know is right.

It’s a strange paradox but an interesting time to look forward to.

If someone comes to me for career advice after the 10th, I’d say:

At least, I can mean it when I say, “10th ke baad aish hi aish hoga.”