This is the time of the year again when students are done with their examinations and are impatiently waiting to see if they got in in their chosen colleges. Students are scurrying for the admission process and pondering how their year ahead is going to be. Some are so sure that they are going to excel in engineering and medical but some are yet trying to do something different because they think that the “rat race” isn’t for them. These certain kind of people are the ones who have chosen a “different” career for themselves- Arts, Science and Commerce. I emphasize on the word “different” because sadly even in the 21st Century, these are the career choices which are highly underestimated.
It is time that we change our perception because even though we lack in recognizing the prestige of these streams, there are amazing people out there excelling in these streams and making the people of the world realize the potential these streams have. Being a second year Arts student, my views for Arts changed from good to better and I would like to share why.
In the words of Guillaume Apollinaire – Without poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature’s monotony.
The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed. The order which we find in nature, and which is only an effect of art, would at once vanish. Everything would break up in chaos. There would be no seasons, no civilization, no thought, no humanity; even life would give way, and the impotent void would reign everywhere.
I agree to the very core of these words. The Arts’ subjects contain within them the power to revolutionize the world. Even if this sentence is slightly hyperbolic, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the Arts’ subjects contain within them the power to revolutionize a curious and eager mind. The Arts represent an outlet of expression. We study subjects like literature, history, philosophy or sociology which helps us to interpret our culture and widen our perspective or view about it.
Once you enter the promising arena of the Arts, your unclear mind hits clarity. Arts is all about your perspective of the world around you. The more you embrace it, the clearer your perspective turns out. For example, before joining the Arts stream, English Literature was just a subject to me where I would be studying literary works of famous personalities around the world, . Today, it signifies my ability to be critical and analytical about the different cultures and norms that existed at the time a particular author wrote his or her work. Sociology is a subject which makes us understand and interpret the intricate details of our society. History advises us about our past and what we need to learn from it. How many of you knew that Philosophy is the mother of all the sciences? Philosophy questions the existence of everything that constitutes our world- living and non-living.
Hence, a light-headed person like me had my bubble popped because the realization of the greatness of my subjects was a moment of exhilaration for me. And I am quite sure that the students of Science and Commerce would have had the same experience. So, when people undermine these choices they are truly incorrect because when you step on to these streams, you see the huge plethora of opportunities in front of you.
There is no way these courses are any less than the highly popularized and exaggerated “esteemed” streams that we blindly choose and it is high time that people realize it. At the end of the day, we should follow the footsteps of where our interest lies. If you are good at something, work hard to be the best at it. Yes, walking the “road less traveled” might expose you to mockery or criticism, but you can get right back at them by being the best version of you.
Being an Arts’ student inspired me to change a few minds to the better, to preach the greatness of this stream. It widened my perspective of society around me and I would urge my readers to consider the choices of your courses. Because at the end of the day, it is you who decide what is good for you. Every career choice has its own prestige and it is you who need to decide where you belong.
