Passion Vs grades: what should guide students?

Students at a graduation recently. Many students are often guided by grades when choosing courses of study. File photo

While filling the PUJAB forms at Senior Six, Elijah Kantinti, only applied for courses with the highest weights such as BSc. Petroleum Geoscience and production. And government admitted him for the course.

“In 2013/14 havoc started. A few days in the class I knew I did not belong. I had offered PCB/Maths at A-Level and here I was seated in a typical Geology class. At first I said, I can still work hard and perform well at it,” he says.

But, he was wrong. However, he struggled through the first semester with no morale and motivation at all. “I started getting in touch with my inner self, and realised that what I was doing is not, and neither was it ever going to work for me. Inside, I knew I could not survive one more semester with zero motivation,” Kantinti confesses.

Though Kantinti started staying with one of his classmates in hope that he would motivate him, it did not help until he decided to forego the government sponsorship in the second semester of the first year.

“It was tough; family was frustrated, but my heart was satisfied that I was taking the right path. I took a break from school mid-2014 to late 2015 to connect with myself, and who I wanted to be,” he says.

He later joined school again in 2015; this time on a Diploma in civil engineering. The course ended earlier this year, and he has already applied for a bachelor degree in the same field.

Feeling out of place
It takes courage to take a turn like Kantinti’s and many such as Daisy Muzira, a bachelor of Leisure and Hospitality Management student at Makerere University Business School remain on crossroads.

“I had applied at Aptech for Software Engineering but when my relatives realised they did not have a degree programme, I was forced to apply at Makerere University for a degree programme and was given leisure and hospitality. I was okay with doing the course because I thought I would love it which turned out different,” Muzira says.

The situation worsened when she went for her industrial training. “First of all, the career is under looked, people in the field are those that have certificates, diplomas, O and A-Level certificates and yet you all are doing the same work and under the same working conditions. Actually, where I was training, among the 25 trainees I was the only one pursuing a degree course. I was demoralised!” she says.

On the other hand, her parents keep telling her to hang in there, because the job opportunities are available and so she has continued with the course, largely because it is her parent’s dream. “I however plan to study the course of my choice, after I am through with this,” Muzira concludes.

Follow passion
But Henry Nsubuga, a career development facilitator, says one can tell whether they are in the right course if they feel interested in what they study.

“Mere performance and good grades in a course do not mean that is where one’s interest lies. A course you pursue with passion becomes enjoyable and you give it your all. Besides if a career is close to what one holds in high regard, it can be money, satisfaction, prestige, freedom, then it will be right for them,” Nsubuga says.

Finally, he says, one’s personality is also important. “There are people who prefer relating with machines, others with people, while others with animals. A career in line with any of them will suit them perfectly.

I encourage parents to be supportive of their children’s choice of courses and not impose any on them because your role as a parent is to facilitate the process of self-discovery for your children,” Nsubuga asserts.

Always note
Your strengths and skills. Explore these to make a career out of them. People who do things they are talented in are likely to do them better.
Future prospects. Do you see yourself working in that career in the future? If you do not, then you have no business taking that course in the first place.
Consider costs. How much money do you need doing the course in relation to the salary you hope to earn. Do they collate?
Students.com