Society’s Attitude towards Social Sciences (and their pursuit)

Picture this:

I’m heading home just after securing admission in Fergusson College for 11^th Std. The rickshaw driver notices and asks (in the vernacular language, of course):

“11th Std. eh? Doing science at Fergusson huh?”

“No. I’ve decided to pursue arts.”

“Arts huh… how much did you get in 10^th?”

“78 %...”

“And still you chose arts!!? Why ever!?”

Why ever? Why not!? A rickshaw driver as a career counselor! I was not much surprised. Almost every acquaintance, and a few friends, were surprised at my choice to study Arts. Educated people in high posts remarked with surprise that one could have pursued Science if one wished to. Similar experiences are shared by almost all my classmates and friends who have decided to pursue arts… Yes, despite scoring 90s and 80s in 10^th. I ask, why isn’t society ready to accept the fact that pursuing arts is as intricate, interesting and nowadays as lucrative as pursuing science, perhaps even more intricate. Why isn’t respect given to the pursuit of arts. In social measures “My son/daughter is doing BA” just doesn’t sound as prestigious as “My son/daughter is doing engineering”.

Many generations have had to face this question of why arts and why NOT science. Its causes, I feel are rooted in history and consequently in tradition. Before and immediately after India’s independence, there came to be many industrial developments. The need for scientists, engineers, doctors and “profession” oriented courses was the need of the day. People realized that there is an assured job and steady money waiting for them if they pursued higher studies in these fields. Batch after batch of students flocked towards engineering. The mass opinion was formed that engineering/medicine and the pursuit of sciences is where “fruitful” education lies. My mother met shocked faces every time she said that she decided to pursue arts. There was almost an uprising in my family, so I hear, back when my uncle opted to study arts when all his brothers were doing engineering. My shrewd guess is the story wasn’t dissimilar in other houses. It has gone on in a similar fashion right to this day. A few years ago, there was the IT boom in India and computers became “the next big thing”. Students started opting for computer engineering, and the likes, en masse. The sector is still booming, and every third student, regardless of gender, seems to be cruising down the e-way. Who can blame the rickshaw driver?

Commerce seems to have better standing in society as compared to arts. You “dabble in accounts” and make money – that’s the general opinion. Again history holds the key to the opinion. Scores of Indians were working as clerks and accountants for government offices. The post of CA attracted lots of aspirants. Hence, commerce got the 2^nd place as far as preference for higher studies go.

Arts automatically takes the 3^rd place – for the masses. Great personalities have pursued arts and shone - Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Ambedkar, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Lokamanya Tilak to name a few (if Law is included as a branch of the social sciences). But these were few instances and involved a lot of expenses and the returns and job opportunities were few.

One couldn’t blame the people then… But now? The amount of job opportunities that are available today to people who pursue arts is phenomenal. There is mass media and communication. This is the “next big thing” now ( BPO sector notwithstanding). It is extremely lucrative and glamorous. There is journalism which is gaining popularity. Arts offers tremendous scope for languages. With language development, a wide range of employment opportunities are available in “translation” and transcriptions. Due to globalization, business transactions are taking place among countries which are linguistically diverse. Language experts are in demand to facilitate matters. The enormous amount of economic activity in the world has opened up whole new vistas for economists. There is immense scope in Travel and Tourism with certain universities offering a diploma in Travel and Tourism. Psychology is another blooming field. It has applications in EVERY possible field concerning humans. Problems like dealing with stress, adjustment, trauma, harassment etc. are real and on the rise in every major profession (especially the booming BPO sector and IT sector). The need for well qualified counselors is ever increasing. Teaching nowadays has become lucrative with many private institutions coming up and the increasing popularity of e-tutoring.

The possible “solution” to this “problem” lies in the fact that people start becoming aware and realizing that pursuing Social Sciences isn’t a waste of time and that it doesn’t reflect lack of ability. How is this possible? The answer is media. Almost all the employment supplements and job-sites widely advertise for IT professionals and Call Centre/BPO jobs. There is some space devoted to mass media and minuscule amounts to e-tutoring. It is not that jobs are not available; it is only that there are little or no advertisements and there is absence of publicity. Only then people will come to know of what kind of promising scope ARTS has.

The issue I have dealt with may not be “socio-economic” per se. It may come across as unimportant in the face of more serious issues like reservations, domestic violence, child labour, unemployment etc. but it is a major social issue which affects the psyche of students nationwide. They are at cross-roads deciding which direction their life is to go in and after making that decision when they are faced with such reactions it is really upsetting for them. Acceptance by family and society needs to increase and for this too, one may say, that a certain amount of counseling is required, apart from the open-mindedness.

This is an issue close to not just my heart, but many hearts throughout the country. The sooner it is addressed, the better society can prosper.

In conclusion I would like to include this particular snippet - JRD Tata said “If social sciences do not keep pace with the growth of physical sciences, society will stagnate” thus acknowledging the importance of development of social sciences with reference to why he chose to establish TISS along with all the other institutions promoting development of Science and Technology.