VCE is stressful for students and their parents. But for Indian parents like me, it’s just like a marathon!
In the Indian culture, parents put a strong emphasis on education and they often make many sacrifices to spend a lot of money on good schools and private tutoring.
They want their kids to excel academically and surpass them in economic and educational attainments. They push their kids to do well at school which reflects why, in most Western countries, Indians are some of the most highly educated immigrants.
Indian parents believe that every child has potential and it is the parents’ job to help the child to explore it fully. However, rather than allowing the child to choose their own VCE subjects, Indian parents tend to choose subjects for their children, usually in medicine, engineering or law — fields which guarantee job security.
Indian parents are not often interested in other extracurricular activities for their kids; no wonder not many gold medals are won by Indian children in sports.
But Indian names are always prominent in the top 10 highest VCE scores. Some parents even give up their jobs to support their kids during VCE and it can feel as if the entire family is appearing for exams.
In India, children face competition from a very early age and they become prepared for extensive testing throughout their school life. However, in Australian schools children are not exposed to such testing up until years 10 or 11.
But not all kids are born geniuses who can achieve high ATAR scores. So if the expected VCE score is not achieved then it should not be the end of the world.
Children should have an input in choosing a career that they would love to pursue which will make them happy.
For us, good education is definitely a key for advancement in life but children should not be restricted to few limited career choices made by their Indian parents.
Thirteen years of study comes down to one ATAR score which will be available on December 17 when the VCE marathon will be finally over for Indian students and Indian parents.
What do you think? Post a comment below.
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