Science stream is overrated; the arts are worthy, too

In perspective

Recently, in an interview to the BBC, Indian actor Victor Banerjee lamented the abysmal lack of interest in poetry and literature among today’s youth. He also said that the majority of youngsters prefer to pursue the science stream to become engineers and doctors because these subjects offer lucrative career options as compared to the humanities stream which offers limited job opportunities.

The actor said that Rabindranath Tagore is not a popular connect today as he should be because what the Nobel laureate stood for and epitomised has been replaced by crass sensationalism and narcissism in this digital age. According to him, Tagore doesn’t belong to the people now.

Which brings us to the question: Have we as a society become too obsessed with mathematics and science? Is cracking the IIT/JEE considered the holy grail of success for our younger generation? Aren’t some overambitious parents living vicariously through their children by pigeonholing them into a career, much against their wishes and feelings?

On television, there is a surfeit of ads on education apps that show demanding teachers, with their take-no-prisoners attitude, hothousing aspiring engineering and medical students, convincing them about the imperatives of success in these competitive times. Life for these students revolves around tuitions and coaching classes. It appears success is now a student’s raison d’etre, the lifeblood of his/her existence. The promoters of these apps send an unequivocal message:

The world belongs to intelligent students who are hardworking and fast learners. But no one talks about how such maniacal competitiveness, at times, can take its toll on the mental health of students. These ads conveniently gloss over the fact that there are also instances of students suffering Icarus-like flameout as they fail to complete their B.Tech/M.Tech degrees due to excessive pressure of studies. We tend to judge a subject by its usefulness in practical life, and in this respect, the science stream appears to have the maximum utilitarian edge in the eyes of parents.

What about those students who take the road less travelled and make unconventional choices? Perhaps, a nature-loving student, with little interest in chemical equations and mathematical formulas, will never qualify as “successful” because dreamers are regarded as insignificant soap bubbles, something of an oddity in our success-driven society where imagination and creative thinking do not count for much. One is reminded of 21-year-old Larry Darrell in Somerset Maughan’s The Razor’s Edge. Larry is looking for a transcendent meaning in life, and has a visceral love of literature. The idea of making money doesn’t interest him. For Larry, ‘acquisition of knowledge’ is his primary objective in life. He believes that the ultimate satisfaction can only be found in the life of the spirit.

We have been conditioned to think that only intelligent students opt for science subjects while the mediocre ones settle for humanities. This year’s IAS topper, Shruti Sharma, who is a student of humanities, has proved that to achieve success, one need not study science only. It has been seen that many unsuccessful students pay exorbitant amounts of money to buy fake B.Tech and MBBS degrees in the hope of landing lucrative jobs.

The reason why artistic and literary talents are often sacrificed at the altar of parental absolutism is because we don’t make an effort to identify and channelise talent in the right direction. Students who have a knack for literature and creative writing should be encouraged to take up humanities in senior classes.

A science student may look up to C V Raman, Sundar Pichai or Bill Gates as role models, just as a student of literature could be inspired by the writings of V S Naipaul or Rohinton Mistry or Amitav Ghosh, or by the poetry of Shelley or Keats.

Truth be told, there is no accounting for taste. Every individual has the right to live life the way they want to without being pressured into doing their parents’ bidding. Be it a musician, singer or a sportsperson, everyone has a different definition and yardstick of success.

It is all about deriving satisfaction from whatever goal one chooses in life. The problem arises when we judge and justify success in terms of money and social status. A modestly-successful author or poet may not earn huge royalty from the sale of books, but he/she is content with the idea of choosing writing as their calling and doing what satisfies their literary instinct. Make no mistake, success is always relative.

(The writer is a senior
journalist based in Delhi)