The new school year is right around the corner, while for others it has already begun. Elementary, middle, and high school students all begin the dreaded cycle and routine once again. College students are no exception to this as their new semester begins to tick away at their time and sanity once again.

Those in high school start to get bombarded with questions and decisions they need to make for their future careers. In all honesty, if you ask a student what their plans are for a career and colleges, they might hesitate or grow anxious; we don’t want those questions.

A self-entitled adult comes up to you and pressures you with the question, “Have you decided what to study?” I would answer with a simple, ‘yes’, and pray they left it at that, but then they decide to prod more and demand the career, followed by the school you plan to enroll in, how much tuition is, how much financial aid is, etc. They attack with a wave of questions as ridiculous and intrusive as the security questions websites provide when creating accounts. Teachers, counselors, and parents alike have done this countless times in high school to myself, as well as now that I’m actually studying at my university. Ask a student if they like being asked these questions. Most, if not all, will respond with, ‘no’. Ask me if I like being asked these questions. I will always respond with, ‘no’. Still, the career questions are as never ending as our student debt.

What career should you pick? So many choices, but only one answer and that answer should be decided by none other than you. Teachers and counselors recommended you something? Great! Look into it if you’d like, but ask yourself if it’s what you’d want to do. Is it something you see yourself being more than happy to dedicate your life to? Is it something you’re interested in or passionate about? Spend time thinking about what you want, not what others want for you. Nothing gets me more frustrated than parents who force a career onto their child because, “it’s what’s best for them”. It’s a common issue; so common, even I’ve dealt with it.

My senior year of high school came, and with it came the career choice and all the dreaded paperwork. I had to ask myself what I wanted and where my passion lay. The medical field sounded swell and all, but it wasn’t something I really saw myself doing. Art, writing, and culinary arts have been major hobbies of mine for the majority of my life, if not all of it. Years back when my uncle asked me what I wanted to study, I had happily expressed my dream of going to culinary school. He told me that was great and all but that his daughter studied the same thing and then dropped it altogether to study something else. My smile faltered a little, but I smiled nonetheless. Then my father stepped in, overhearing my conversation with his brother, and told me what I least wanted to hear. “Don’t even think about it. That’s not a real career and it won’t get you anywhere in life. The answer is no,” and the lecture continued for quite some time. I was crushed. The dream I held onto since I was a young girl helping out in my mother’s kitchen was shattered, and with it, the certainty I held with every decision I made. I did not speak against it, nor did I speak against his wanting me to study to be a dentist.

We fast forward back to senior year when the “life changing” decision would be made. In those recent years, art became something I was very much passionate about and my mother was proud of how much I would improve in my drawing. Art schools sounded enticing as more and more representatives of different colleges and universities came to one of my art classes to present. I longed to apply to one but art schools almost seemed taboo in the community. To most people, art majors seem like students who just go and spend their time drawing for four years or so with a career that won’t get them anywhere. I know they judged me, all those adults who asked me about my major and I responded with ‘Game Art’. I know the big question was about how my parents allowed me to go to an art school. Needless to say, my father was very much against it. I was afraid to even bring it up, but at last I told my mother about it. She was also a little reluctant, but she didn’t say anything at first. She spent time thinking and finally came to the conclusion that she would support me in whatever I wanted to study, something I am grateful for to this day.

My mother decided that it was wrong for parents to impose a career they chose for their child. She had known a man who wanted to force his son to study to be a doctor. The son refused, saying he wanted to study economy, and so their relationship wasn’t the best for some time. This enlightened my mother upon seeing the violence the son resorted to out of pure frustration, and she told me this some time later. She thought, if he were to study what the father wanted, once he completed his degree he would go up to his father and throw the diploma in his face saying, “Here’s the degree you wanted so bad. Now I’m going to study what I want.” All those years of study would go to waste, or so my mother’s thought process went. For this reason, she spoke to my father about it and he gave up. She also spoke to the man about his son’s career choice and enlightened him as well with her thought process. I’m sure other students would like someone to speak to their parents about this issues as well.

Let students make their own choices in careers, as wrong as they may seem to another. Let them learn from their mistakes but don’t let a student be filled with regret for not studying what they want. Not everyone will have a set game plan for their life ahead of them after high school. Don’t scold or belittle someone for changing their major after some time. Take it from me, a Game Art major looking to switch to Animation. If they switch, it’s not without reason. Things change. People change. Never stop questioning what it is you’re doing. It’s your education, not their's and you only have your life ahead of you to look forward to.