Significance of Natural Aptitude in Education - Research Paper Example

? Significance of natural aptitude in education Thesis ment: “Why is natural talent and aptitude important in education and career building?” Education is a process of gradual learning in a productive environment. With the passage of time, education’s significance is perpetuating. It upholds the framework of a country’s development and defines the quality of output by the workforce and the productivity rate as well. There has been a considerable interest by the researchers regarding individual’s psychology, motivation factors, behavior, and attitude in different environments. The younger population enrolled in academic institutions is just as important to a country as the workforce is to the organization. This is due to the reason that this youth or the children will be the workforce of the country in coming years. They will take up important positions in the society as doctors, engineers, artists, soldiers, politicians and many of them will run the primary institutions of the country. Therefore, it becomes crucial to ensure that the students are placed in the right set of subjects. It means that the student gets the support to study those courses that relates to their natural talents and they get to choose the careers of interest consequently. It is more proficient and less tedious to polish the naturals than to expect good output from them and ambition to grow in fields which oppose their in-born talents. Moreover, the need of students to get to learn in a creative environment which brings out the best in them also becomes important. However, bringing out the best from a student doesn’t solely rely on the curriculum design, teacher’s behavior or the environment. Everyone is aware with the power of individual’s passion and interest in subjects to excel in different fields of education. It is evident in various studies that an individual is more creative and focused to the subjects of their interest. They tend to be more willing and enthusiastic about taking challenging tasks in fields that are of interest to them and are relevant to their skills and passion. A forced attempt to study courses that the student dislikes, create negative impacts on a student’s behavior. The effects are far reaching on student’s academic performance and later on their job performance too. A student who has a clear aim in mind and tends to follow a career in a field where they are naturally talented is more competitive, views the challenges as stages of a tournament, and measures the success in terms of better grades and self satisfaction (O’Leary, 1985). Psychologically speaking, an individual who is forced to study or persuaded a career which is not of their choice forms feeling of rebellion in them. Students who are naturally talented with numbers will take up on challenging problems with great enthusiasm. However, a student who has little aptitude with numbers will find themselves shirking away from the unpleasant task. Many times the resulting loss of grade and performance doesn’t matter to the student as long as they can avoid a subject which they don’t like. Student behavior is a vastly studied phenomenon; the studies tend to uncover the underlying reasons for student’s boisterous behavior in the learning environment. The students are known to divert their feelings of unrest and lack of confidence by adopting a rowdy behavior, by disturbing others and also by refusing to take part in the classroom activity. Learning skills and knowledge in fields which resonate with student’s natural talents create a feeling of confidence and self satisfaction which can’t be instilled more efficiently in the student’s behavior in any other way. Education systems are typically based on the belief that through a continual teaching students can be made to learn skills and practices related to multiple fields even if they aren’t in frequency with the natural gifts in students. We can observe from our schooling experiences that there are more than enough arguments that prove that students do learn skills and practices by continued guidance and learning. Yet there still exist the belief that natural talent and ambition has its own unbeatable significance. Students can be trained to understand medicine, music, arts or sports but it’s the individual’s ambition and passion towards the fields that makes them a good doctor, a famous musician or a renowned painter. In a report from the University of Cambridge (2009), it is stated that training and teaching can make students understand concepts of a particular discipline they do not like but it cannot force them to pursue these disciplines as a career unless external pressures are involved. Pursuing a career or choosing to study a discipline that runs opposite to an individual’s passion result in lack of confidence, stress, emotional break downs and a submissive view regarding life. There is more to practices and skills than a mere cramming of formulas, learning of theories and giving exams. Studying and understanding according to one’s passion provides an inner motivation to learn, to read, and the urge to discover more challenging parts of that discipline. The quality of work generated in the performance of a naturally talented student cannot be externally created in equal standard through training and continued learning by some student. It has little to do with how good or efficient is the instructor. Usually natural talent is a result of inheritance but in many cases it is plainly God gifted. We often come across extremely talented artists born in families of doctors, engineers or business men. Misbehaving students are often punished for their misconduct and this usually results in correction, but many times the unpleasant behavior continues. An efficient teacher is the one who detects the underlying reason for the student’s persistent bad behavior. It has been found out that many times students misbehave because of having problems in family, psychological disorders and not very surprisingly due to forced learning of least favorite subjects. It is always suggested that efforts must be directed towards detecting and nurturing the inner talents of such pupils. Leaving the natural talent and aptitude unattended and undeveloped is often considered synonym to reducing one’s self to the value of a uncut rough undetected diamond (Griffin, 2010). To bring out individual talents, there is a need to develop liberalized systems which not only motivate creativity but creates an environment which fosters expression and inspiration. Without natural talent and interest, training and practice is not as productive, reward reaping, and engaging. Successful individuals attribute their success to pursuing the right careers which were in tune with their deep down passions and natural talents. The students grow up to be professionals, entrepreneurs, and business men etc. The probability of their success largely depends on their personal interest in their work endeavors. Successful entrepreneurs are known to be self satisfied and confident in their careers because they love what they are doing. This love for their career makes them risk takers and also adds to their ability of intuitive thinking. We observe that such successful entrepreneurs when young must have been exceptionally talented students with aptitude and knack in particular disciplines. They must have some mentors who guided them towards developing, nurturing and polishing there outstanding talents. The support system is always referred as important to entrepreneur’s career building. This very support system should be intact from the time a student learns that they have a special interest in a particular subject. The support system for them includes support of the parents, teachers, mentors and peers. This early support builds up into a deep rooted sense of confidence which perpetuate the students towards challenging tasks when they start working professionally in the years to come. Developing the child’s basic talents and interests is largely the duty of parents as long as they are in their hands and nurture. The parents can support the child to identify, develop and pursue their passion by providing them support, knowledge and a creative environment. Providing them with books that narrate the lives of famous artists, sportsmen or musicians, providing inspirational media exposure and encouraging creative tasks and independent decision making are few of the things that parents, teachers or mentors can do to encourage the naturally talented children. Sometimes there are students with apparently no special intellect in any particular discipline. They are usually show good or acceptable performance in almost all subjects. This often instills into them a feeling of being ordinary and drab. This is however, not true. Every individual has some undetected knack in things that others may not have. The need is to recognize that the ability to calculate, to draw, to paint, to play an instrument, to work on circuits and to read about medicine are not the only talents a person can have. There is no end to the kind of talents a human can have. There is a great need to modify this paradigm regarding talents. A talent can be anything from sewing to cooking to collecting dried flowers or collecting old coins. It doesn’t always have to be a big thing. If a student perks up during discussions sessions, then it is possible that he may do well being politician or a lawyer. If a student is known for being caring and listening to his or her mates then it is possible that they may grow up to is a good psychiatrist. A student, who loves to collect old and new coins from different eras of time, may find his right place in the fields of archeology or anthropology. Thus, the kinds and nature of human talents are indefinite and if detected timely, then they can be linked to the right career paths. When naturally talented people pursue a career, they not only become exceptionally successful but they also contribute to the name of their country and boost up the country’s development economically and socially. All the successful people express that they ended up being this successful and self satisfied because they followed their heart. As Mercer (2011) says that an individual’s perception about their passion and natural interests has significantly strong influence on their ideas about life, beliefs, personal behaviors and internal motivation. Everyone seeks education for the sake of career building. There have been incidences that students often do not get the right guidance and the right information when they are on the decisive points of their educational journey. Many compromise their choice of careers for the greater good including a stable earning, a more strong position in the society or family’s approval. One cannot deny the importance of factors like money, social position and power but the point of discussion is to high light the importance of nurturing the natural talents of a student, So that even if they do not join their field of interest as a career, they would still have the internal satisfaction of having tried and learn to their choice. If a student with an aptitude in sketching has had some experience with proper sketching courses then even if they don’t opt to be an artist in the future, they can still satisfy themselves by drawing as a hobby. Completely shutting out on one’s talent is highly damaging. Expressing oneself through one’s talent is a common way of releasing one’s stress, so it should always be treasured and nurtured. A student with a keen interest to join teaching as a profession may give up the idea because the career promises little money and social development. This leads them to go for careers which are otherwise not of their interest. This hinders productivity, creativity and expression in the long run. Job fit is a very common term used in organizations all the time. Job fit means placing the right person for the right job. This automatically points to us the significance of being relevant in every field of life. We would call studying the subjects that resonate with the student’s talent as individual fit. Individual’s fit is as important as a job fit. If there exists a discrepancy between passion and the path opted for education then the student will lead a life of internal conflict and mental unrest. Those who follow their heart in their academic journey are relatively calmer, satisfied and confident in even the smallest of decisions. Those who do not get the support, guidance and help at the right time end up being defensive and rebellious with their decisions. Therefore, education is the defining term in any individual’s life. If the right paths and right career is chosen then it can make the individual’s life better in every aspect possible. Works Cited Griffin, Kathy. Learning from Leaders in Asia The Lessons of Experience. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd. , 2010 Mercer, Sarah. "Dispelling the myth of the natural-born linguist." Oxford Journals (2011) O’Leary, Jane. "Developing a new mindset: the “career ambitious” individual." An International Journal (1985): 91-99. University of Cambridge . IELTS 7. New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009 Read More