Decision making process: How lack of guidance is affecting the decision making process of the youth!

Decision making process: How lack of guidance is affecting the decision making process of the youth!

There is a high gap between the thought process of a youth in a first world country and one residing in a developing country like India. Society, surroundings, economical situations, government policies and countless other factors affect the decision making process of a millennial whether its about life, career or social. Lack of proper guidance and mentorship is a common problem in the lives of millennials all over the globe. All the information about everything is available online but it's always better to have someone by your side whom you can approach anytime whenever you need guidance on anything.

20s are the ages when we go through a lot of real world challenges. Early 20s are highly important years of one's life in terms of career building, perspective building and taking some real life decisions. We often find ourselves in confused situations while taking such decisions during this stage of life. Lack of experience, low level of maturity or high excitement level can be blamed for this. Development of the decision making process in humans is a result of evolution, social changes and effect of the surroundings. Social approach, political influence, psychological and logical approach are some types of decision making styles the millennials are following for long in different human societies all over the globe.

Technological advancements have revolutionised human societies in many aspects. But more dependency on technology resulted in less human to human interaction at the physical level which automatically has welcomed many modern world human problems at the psychological and social level.

Proper mentorship is a real world problem. A student residing in a first world country or may be staying in a developing country, the life situations are different at both the cases but at some point of life he definitely feels the need of guidance from someone. It's a human problem. Technology is still very far away from providing support to humans at an emotional level. Artificial intelligence may someday overpower us but at present human to human level mentorship is highly relevant.

How lack of guidance is a real world problem and how it affects the decision making process of millions of youth across different countries all over the globe?

Lack of proper guidance is a serious problem in the life of a youth in a country like India. Not every decision taken by self is correct to a high extent. Having different perspectives to look at a problem and then deciding one approach to handle it is always a better choice.

Importance of decision making can be felt during the 20s. A single decision can affect your life to a high extent. Everyone's life is different and so are the situations. At the end, it's at the court of oneself while taking a decision. But yes, having different perspectives, views, others versions and guidance act as the base of data points in the decision making process.

Examples of decision making that affects the life of a youth at a great extent:

1. Academic choices:

In a country like India, earlier academic choices determine a lot in the future career paths. In most of the cases, these decisions are either influenced by the social trend or by forceful selection of any particular academic stream. Which is ofcourse not a very healthy trend. Lack of proper information, awareness, knowledge and qualified people around are some serious factors that drive ones towards going with the trend. A perfect example of a decision making situation a student has to go through is while choosing the academic stream after his 10th. In an underprivileged society, a student does not have access to proper information, knowledge and guidance even in the era of the internet and in many cases such a student is most likely to follow the path his seniors are following.

2. Career choices:

Our education system is lacking at many segments but the main point why it's still broken is the basic philosophy of approach towards learning. Indian education system emphasises on the ‘what's' and not on the ‘how’ s. How to learn is more important than what to learn. Money is a big determining factor in choosing a career in the Indian subcontinent region. Passion matters nowhere here. The scene is changing though but still very far to go. Lack of availability of proper information regarding various offbeat, unconventional yet lucrative career choices are the reason behind this.

Conclusion:

Life is all about challenges and the hustle to overcome them. Decision making is a crucial part of our life. The future is determined by the actions we take during the present days. In a country like India, mentoring is a real world problem. There is a vast difference between the quality of resources, information and guidance available to a student in a tier 1 city and a tier 3 city in India. Unavailability of proper information and guidance leads to following the trend. This is a big reason why majority of students end up with pursuing something they are not interested in or being stuck in a career they are not enjoying. Mentoring or guiding is not something like being told the perfect way or choice to follow. A good mentoring is about providing information, introducing different perspectives and supporting the decision on being made.

We often hear that India's education system is broken. But why? We have a rich history of our education systems. India was known as the hub of knowledge seekers during the ancient days. Most people will argue with the failed government policies while the other side will try to defend with citing about the flooding of population in India. I am not defending or criticising anyone here in this article. But why is the education system in India still broken even after more than 70 years of our independence? This is the question we must ask ourselves now. If we go to the root of this question, the real culprit is the philosophy of approach. The present Indian education system doesn't encourage you to find the 'why' and 'how' of any query but emphasises on knowing the 'what's.

The day we become successful in overcoming this, our education system will shine.