Making choices for further education

EDUCATION

By THOMAS HUKAHU

OVER the past few weeks, I shared with you tips on how to study for an examination and how to sit it.
This week I want to share some ideas on how you can choose a field that you want to study in preparation for a job in the future.
When you choose your next institution to study in, you will need to consider a number of factors before making your decision.
Later, I will also share with you a story about an interesting young man that I met some time ago.

What do you want to be?
The most important factor that will determine where you want to go to study after you have completed Grade 10 or 12 depends on what your career choice or preference is.
What do you want to become in life?
Do you want to be a lawyer? An engineer? An accountant? A doctor? A teacher?
Do you want to be a soldier or police officer?
Do you want to be a pilot or navigator?
Such questions will determine where you should head to next.
If you want to become a lawyer, you have to apply for law at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) because that is the only institution in the country that can train you to be a lawyer.
If you want to become a medical doctor, you can either apply to UPNG and the Divine Word University.
If you want to be an auto mechanic, plumber or electronics technician, you should try enrolling in a technical college.
Do your research and find out which universities or colleges offer which programmes.

Choose what you want
Do bear in mind that what you want to study may not be what your parents or guardians studied. (I studied a science subject and mathematics in university and later worked in journalism. My parents did not major in those subjects when they went to college. I chose what interested me.)
Choose what you want to study because we are different and must not always try to fit into someone else’s mould, even though we may come from the same tribe or family.
Just because your parent is a doctor or teacher does not necessarily mean you have to be one. The famous physicist and mathematician, Galileo Galilei, was urged by his father to study medicine because doctors are paid better than mathematics teachers. However, Galilei personally was more attracted to maths, physics and astronomy.
He finally convinced his father to let him study maths, even though mathematicians were not as highly paid as physicians.
(Science would not have been what it is today if Galilei had not made that vital decision.)

Do you meet the requirements?
Another thing you should consider is the requirements for the courses that you (a school leaver) may be interested in, as offered by an institution.
Find out which that are required by the faculty that you want to enrol in.
Also, check if your grades meet their requirements. If they want students with all Bs, check your certificate. Do you have, on average, all Bs?
If you do not meet their requirements, you will not be accepted for that course if you apply.
That means you have to apply for other programmes where you meet the study programme’s requirements.

What if you do not get what you want?
It is likely that some of you will not get the offer you want, possibly because you have not met the requirements for a particular study programme.
Let’s take the case that you want to be a lawyer but you do not make it into UPNG. What then do you do, if you still want to be a lawyer?
The first thing that you must do is upgrade all the subjects that you did poorly in so that in a few years’ time you can apply again and see if the law school at UPNG can take you in.
Alternatively, you can continue with your studies in another field, possibly in business or literature and get a degree in that, spend some years working and then try to apply again for law school.
This time, you will apply as a non-school leaver and possibly your skills in working with people and communicating effectively may have been improved from your years in another field.
I mentioned to a group of Grade 12s recently that often we may not be able to go directly from point A to point B. We need to go to points C, D and E and then get to B.
In life, we will face many such moments. We may not be able to get straight to our goal, we may have to do a few other things before we get to where we want to go.

Think about upgrading too
This is something that you must keep at the back of your mind if you are applying to institutions where you are going to obtain a diploma or certificate.
Would you want to upgrade your certificate to a diploma, or a diploma to a degree? Are those institutions recognised by universities within the country that you can then apply to to upgrade your qualification?
There are number of private institutions running different training programmes but think about your own long-term goal. Would you be satisfied with a certificate of diploma?
If you want to upgrade later, you should apply to colleges (preferably government colleges) where you can always upgrade your certificate to a diploma or a diploma to a degree in a government-run university. Some private institutions that offer training programme may not offer you that possibility.

Thinking of joining disciplinary forces?
If you are thinking of joining our disciplinary forces, the PNG Defence Force, Police Force or Correctional Service, look out for their notices on recruitment.
From time to time, they advertise for school leavers to apply for general recruitment.
Keep an eye out for their newspaper advertisements.
You can be recruited by PNG Defence Force or Police Force as a Grade 12 school leaver or even after you complete a university graduate.
Of course, if you join as a university graduate you would have more chances of being promoted to senior positions and you will be offered other opportunities also.

A guard wants to be a lawyer
Be optimistic in life and choices. Be someone who is eager in what you do and have some goals about what you are doing where you are.
Let me share with you a story about a young person I met some time ago. He is someone who has a big goal ahead of him.
A few years back I met a security guard in Port Moresby.
He was usually stationed at a commercial bank’s ATM area and whenever I dropped by to get some cash, I would chat with him. At times, I would give him some coins for his soft drink.
He was a young man from the highlands. He told me that he dropped out of Grade 12 at Sogeri National High School because his family could not support him. Life was tough and he hung around Port Moresby and got a job with a well-known security firm.
“My aim in life is to be a lawyer,” he told me.
He told me a story that once an MP from his area came to the bank without his gold card and he disallowed him from entering the bank. The MP was furious and asked the guard if he recognised him.
The guard said, sure he recognised him because he was from his area.
“But sir, you need to have your gold card for me to allow you in,” the young man told the MP.
The MP was livid with rage and told the young man: “You will never be anyone else in life. You will be a security guard all your life!”
The guard told me that he did not accept the MP’s comment and told the politician: “Sir, I know you are an MP. But mind you, in a few year’s time, you will see me again. I will be a lawyer!”

Now that is something!
I have not met someone like that young man in a long time. Someone who could do his job without favouritism and who won’t allow a bad word from an older guy to take his focus off his goal in life.
We all can learn from that young man, someone who was determined and who wanted to achieve more in life.

We are living in a land of opportunities
Let me point out to you that our nation is full of opportunities, regardless of our economic situation.
I have spent two of my working years living on an island in the Pacific Ocean where the economy of that nation is much worse than ours.
Despite the hard times we are facing, our country still has plenty of opportunities.
Money is still circulating on the streets. Street vendors and vegetable farmers continue to earn something while graduates are still looking for jobs.
In that small island nation I was in, I realised that they had nothing. They do not even have a tertiary college on their island. They had to go overseas for higher education.
We in PNG are full of such opportunities.
All we need is to ensure that we meet the course requirements and save some money to pay for our fees.
Let us make use of opportunities, including enrolling in colleges or universities to learn more.
Next week: Life in university is challenging

• Thomas Hukahu is a freelance writer.