Students determine studies to support career

Bambang Nurbianto The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Education should be fun. It is much better if it supports the career one interested in.

But Tora Sudiro, 32, named best local actor at the Panasonic Awards show earlier this month, never got the approval from his parents to get into art school, although he had shown his interests in music and acting.

His father told him to take financial insurance as his major.

"Becoming an artist is good, but it is better if you take insurance as your major because it may lead you to a more prospective career," the father of two recalled his father's words.

Tora obeyed his father. He graduated and worked in an insurance company. He quit after three months.

Tora shared his bad experience about education at a seminar on study and careers organized by the Swiss German University in Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang, on Saturday, attended by teachers, students and their parents from Jakarta and Tangerang.

Education expert Arief Rachman said Tora was an example of a victim of parents' choices, who forced their wishes on their children to study in certain subjects without considering the talents and interests of their children.

"Children will lose their great potential if parents force them to study in certain subjects, which they do not like. In the more extreme situation, it may cause frustration."

He said that to help children to choose their education, there are several approaches, including psychological tests to identify the children's talents and interests.

According to Arief, interests of the children should become the first consideration in deciding the subject of education, while talent should be second.

"A child may be good in math, but he puts high interest on sociology. In that case, it is better for such children to take sociology as their major. They will have great motivation there," said Arief, who is also a lecturer at Jakarta University (UNJ).

According to Arief, pressing children to take certain subjects, which children may in fact not like, may spark negative impacts like frustration and underachievement due to lack of motivation.

In the case of Tora, who played the main role in several art and commercial movies as well as performing in the popular Extravaganza comedy show, Arief said that he was lucky being able to exploit his own talent without having to take a formal education on acting.

"I believe that education is the most important factor for the future of our children. We cannot expect that all people will have what Tora has, who is successful in his profession without a formal education in it," said Arief.

But to find out what he had missed, Arief encouraged Tora to get further education on acting.

"You will be more successful ... Most of the Academy Award winners have strong educational backgrounds in acting," he claimed.