Are we what we are shaped to be?

20 years ago, our mentors (our teachers, fathers, mothers, uncles and aunts etc) started giving us career guidance from an early age and tell us explicitly or implicitly what they expected us to become. They analyzed what was wrong in Nepal at that time and tried to make us into solutions to the problems they were facing, then.

That is why they told us to become a Professional ( Engineer, Teacher, Banker, Manager etc) or a Doctor or a Scientist.

“डक्टर वा इन्जिनियर है !”

Most frowned upon some of our ideas of making a career in sports, poetry, writing or even acting. Equally No No was Politics or Public Service or even the Army or Police. “After all the education you have got, you are going to be just THAT? !!” was their answer. Arts (Sociology, economics etc) and Commerce (Management, business, finance etc) was only if we were not good enough be a Doctor or a Professional (Engineer was the common name given then). Our mentors also never saw social sector as a viable alternative either. (maybe the concept was not born then).

Lately, I was curious to see whether their advice was effective in shaping our generation’s choices or not. Did they shape us into what we are today?
So I decided to test this out by checking to see how our high school classmates careers matched with the general trend of career advice given by our informal mentors at that time. Here are some statistics of a rough analysis of the current careers of my classmates from high school.

If you analyze this chart, there is virtually none (1%) of us are in the public sector (the yellow). This is we see a lot of problems in the Nepali society right now.
About half of us (50%) are working as professionals as recommended by our mentors years ago.
Nearly 1 out of 5 are in the medical field which was one of the popular career advises given by our mentors. About 15% of us are working as Bankers, Accountants and Managers, (This was the 3rd most popular career guidance back in those days)

Only 8% of us are engaged in some sort of entrepreneurial activity (that creates jobs and opportunities for others). Only less than 7% are involved in some sort of ways to help change the Nepali social problems. And these two sectors is where we see immense problems in ideas and leadership. Where did all the creative amongst us go ?

The conclusion I draw from this is, our choice of career (whether we like it or not) was the product of what the Nepali society believed it wanted two decades ago.

We have a similar choice today. I believe, it is in our interest to mentor our children (the next generation) in ways to improve the sections of our Nepali society where it needs help. If we want to produce good leaders, maybe we should encourage them to “lead”, take up careers in public service  or to become actively involved in social/political/economic/creative activism.

Isn’t this the need of the hour today in Nepal? If you think so, lets recommend this when you give career guidance the next time, “Become a Leader or a Change maker.

10 thoughts on “Are we what we are shaped to be?

  1. maybe he should read this to his son/daughter.rnrnthe 50 page A nepali entrepreneur’s handbook. (copy/paste link in browser tornview/download)rnhttp://bit.ly/E4Nbook

  2. I want to add one more thing. Please teach them corruption/stealing is real bad. Punctuality and honesty are good habits. Please teach them good morality; it is so unfortunate that Nepalese people (mostly) are so morally corrupted these days. One of the reason (or maybe most of the reason) for this behaviour is that our parents always (or ali bujhne bhayepachi) told us its ok to do whatever that earns you more money. “Sojho aula le ghyu aaudaina, ali batho hunuparcha.” We all knew what they meant by being “batho.” When I recall my own childhood, I remember everyone praised me for being so “gyani”, good in studies, smart, honest etc until I was in high school. Then all of a sudden, everyone starts worrying that im so “sojho”, dumb etc that i dont know any survival/life techniques. “Yesle padhna chahi padhyo tara gari khadaina.” Its hard to accept, but everything started from our own houses. So please don’t make the same mistake with our kids. And also don’t teach them everything, let them learn: another mistake our parents did to us (maybe another reason why there are so few enterprenures in that chart).

  3. Thank you James (Manoj)rnrnHopefully we will not make the same decisions the earlier generation madernwhile choosing careers for our children.

  4. Hom, I agree with you on most parts.rnrnyet I feel leaders are made… maybe we build each other up and changernthings.. I don’t believe the next Nelson Mandela is going to arise in Nepal.rnIt will be few of us deeply flawed supporting each other .Good people needrnto trust each other more in Nepal and lift each other up.rnu0915u0938u094b ?

  5. Very true. I remember one discussion I had with one of my relatives few months back. He came to me for the suggestions of his son’s further studies. His concern was which stream helps him to get job easily with good salary. After giving him few suggestions I told him that, why you are trying to make your son a job seeker instead of making him job creator. Don’t scare him for future jobs but let him think he can create jobs for others.nnThere is huge necessity of the entrepreneur and risk taker in our country who can create jobs for others and can do contribution to the economy ecosystem. So our next suggestion should be “Become a Leader or a Change maker” if someone comes to us for the suggestion.

  6. Salutes for the great workout !nObviously we’re out of track ! nAll the above chart shows us.We all needs the right attitude & correct determination in right time.regardsn

  7. nice analysis bro. from my perspective, becoming a leader or a change maker in Nepal or anywhere in third world in not so easy. People have tried but rarely succeed. I know some of my friends in political space who are at higher post today. At the end of the day, only one thing matters most – common sense; which Nepalese people don’t have. Just look at the people rallying around Paras today. Why you want a landlord when you are already free and have your own piece of land. Nepalese people don’t have common sense. u0939u093eu092eu0940 u091cu0938u094du0924u094b u091bu094c u0939u093eu092eu094du0930u093e u0928u0947u0924u093e u092au0928u093f u0924u0947u0938u094du0924u0948 u091bu0928u094d | u092du094bu091f u0939u093eu0932u094du0928u0947 u092cu0947u0932u093e u092eu093e u0939u093eu092eu0940 u0906u0901u0916u093e u0926u0947u0915u094du0926u0948u0928u094c To bring a change in the country, there should be a leader who will show them- how to read between the lines.

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