A long time ago, the Spanish Ministry of Education decided that, in their freshmen year of high school, students must choose which subject they want to study for the rest of their years in school. I still have three years of high school before graduation. That’s three years to choose what career I want to pursue; at least seven years to start working. Seven years of my life that may not be worth anything if now I am wrong or uncertain in my decision. Why?
And after these seven years, the career that I thought had a lot of opportunities maybe doesn’t even exist. Successful careers now aren’t as highly in demand as they once were. The world is evolving at a speed where we can no longer predict the future. We are considered to be the best prepared generation, but how can that be true if we don’t know what the future holds?
We live in the Digital Era: new technology is starting to affect the workforce, with computers replacing the receptionist who used to help check in clients at the front of an office and that factory hand who helped to weave fabrics. Many jobs will not need employees, as technology will be able to do all the work. It is possible that what one studies today will not be necessary tomorrow, so how am I supposed to choose a course so early on?
Although I think education is fundamental for every person, I disagree with how my country’s politicians are driving it. 21.9% of the Spanish people left their studies after finishing high school as of 2014. Spain has the highest percentage of dropouts in the European Union. As my country currently stands in a unstable political situation, laws about education could change any day. I am not sure what a change in those laws could mean for my current course: the career that I want to pursue could begin to require other subjects that I wasn’t able to learn. I could lose my opportunity to work in the field that I love due to sudden changes in Spain’s system of education.
The worst part of it all is that you aren’t given much freedom in deciding your subjects. In Spain, you can only choose if you want to study sciences or social studies/humanities. What if I want to study both? I envy the freedom other countries give to their students in their selection; the long list of courses to choose from so that every student learns what they are passionate about. I hear every day from my friends about how much they hate physics or literature, but must do it if they want to pass the year.
And as for for the ones, like me, who don’t yet know what we want to do, why must they force us to choose now? What if we regret it later on?
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
-Stephen Covey
