Stereotypical choices dominate immigrant students’ career options

Find yourself, ‘free to choose,’ be yourself’ and ‘no one is judging you’ are some of the typical notions about the Western world that Indians carry in their minds. Particularly when it comes to career or higher education choices it is widely believed that the West gives room for one’s likes and dislikes to be the person who they are.Simply said, an opportunity to ‘discover yourself’.  But for the Indian immigrants who have pursued their American dream journey, it is just not easy to let the children free to pursue the inner call when it comes to education and career choices.

So, here is the story: if you have been thinking that a teenager living in America could be enjoying crazy haircuts or sport a shaven head just because he or she wishes so, you could be wrong. Most often, it cannot happen without the in-principle approval from the parent. If in the name of finding the self, a child decides to bunk school, it does not often get parents’ approval. And, not to speak of a wild thought that one could be a school dropout to go around the world on a discovery tour! If a child wants to pursue studies in film production and photography or culinary science, it’s not at all easy to get approval from the parent either. Contrary to the popular belief that there is excessive freedom to follow the calling, the real world does not approve the hands-off policy by parents in Indian American families.

Are there set norms applicable to even for those living abroad? Yes, of course.

Like back home, the majority of immigrant parents focus on education as the only goal to success. It seems like carrying the old wine in a new bottle but in a new geography. No wonder the parents’ dream of seeing their child as an engineer, doctor or a management expert. The Ivy league continues to be the ‘chase destination’ for prosperity. The pressure on the parents and children is to pursue a career that ensures monetary success and not specifically for a degree expressed by the extreme desire.

“The Indian families popularly believe that to succeed, the Ivy leagues are the only tracks to follow. Also degree in photography, film production, cosmetic study, culinary science, agricultural science, ecology and a whole list remains clearly out of the purview for majority of students,” observed Sanjana Rajan, a mother of two college-going kids.

“Asian parenting is pragmatic disallowing a child to pursue degrees like a major in theatre and spending huge money with no guarantee of ending up in high paying jobs,” noted Randy Levin, a college application essay adviser. This is not the mindset of Indian immigrants alone but across the board, the parents of current generation give more weight to the college education that comes with a promise of monetary gains. This is a trend visible even among Caucasian parents, he added.

After your maiden job, nobody bothers about the school that one studied in. The noticeable feature is the performance in the previous employment. But, of course, one cannot ignore the fact that college is easy springboard and gateway to dream destinations. A thought is well-engraved in the Indian American belief system.

To achieve the goal and standards set for their children, parents often undergo stress by stretching financially too.  While school education is free, (if one chooses public schools, considered the most popular choice) one would have to shell out a hefty $50,000-70,000 annually for college education in out of the state university enrolments.

Finding a home in highly competitive school districts is another major decision that determines the choice of the right school. The real estate prices in highly competitive school districts are always expensive and the property taxes are hefty too. This puts pressure on both parents to be employed.

“When we moved to this school district, the first thing we had to do is find a job for myself to back the high mortgage we paid for this home,” said Revathy Parthasarathy, who used to be a home maker until moving to a new house in the most competitive school district in New Jersey.

It is also widely believed back in India that the US school education is less strenuous on the kids as they are in a system where they study how much they can absorb. True, it is less stressful in the formative stages but as the child moves to the higher grades it gets extremely competitive and demanding. Courses are designed at different levels for children suiting their comfort levels. But for the competitive-spirited population chasing big dreams, pushing the child for the extra mile seems to be the norm. So, most end up in honours class. It is not always parents but children who also make tough choices to keep up with the peers. “I have taken eight AP courses to have stand out resume for my college admissions. Most of my friends also have taken Eight AP courses and doing less AP course will put me off the race,” said Prajeeth Raman, a high school student in the Bay Area.

Unlike in India, where the one-time board examination decides the college admissions, in the US, the four-year cumulative GPAs through 9-12 standard are the deciding factor. This puts pressure over a long duration. “The assignments and homework are involving more research that keeps my son awake most days until midnight. Mind you, he has to get up early to catch the 7 am school bus. This has been the norm since he entered the ninth grade,” rued Swamanithan R, a parent.

It’s a ‘no pains no gains’ situation when it comes to college admissions and campus recruitment, as the America Inc. does not hesitate to pick the competitive students. Indian Americans do occupy an enviable slot in this space. So, it does not matter if phrases ‘find yourself’ and ‘free to choose’ no longer hold true.