I have extensive experience working with both students and adults, and I have advised many of them regarding the best majors for them. I also played a key role in graduating a very successful class of students who not only graduated with honors but also found fantastic careers that matched their abilities. However, there are situations when the students will not have an option, particularly in the Gulf region where the governments give particular scholarships and the students have no choice but to accept what is offered. Nevertheless, some students do succeed, while some switch to a different major halfway through the course, wasting time.
I received a list of programs this morning, along with a call to parents to encourage their kids to major in fields like artificial intelligence (AI), data science, big data, cloud computing, e-commerce, information security, internet of things (IoT), machine learning, programming, and other fields that resemble what we need right now because we are living in the computer age and will for all time.
These majors are all based on a person’s brain type, which can be either right- or left-brained. It denotes a dominating side of the brain. People with a left-brained dominant personality tend to be systematic and analytical. Right-brained people tend to be creative and artistic. For instance, if you look at my brain (I believe from the test I had done, I was more inclined towards the right hemisphere of the brain), and even though I enjoyed mathematics, I can’t say that I am a genius at solving the larger problems. I also enjoy reading poetry and love art, reading novels, writing short stories, and blogging, which means I can analyze things and am emotional, creative, and intuitive (among other traits suitable for right-brain people). While many students are encouraged by their parents to major in subjects that are more appropriate for the left side of the brain or left hemisphere, they may not succeed because they did not inherit the characteristics necessary for careers in mathematicians, scientists, and business analysts, or programming.
Please try to understand your child from the time they are toddlers so that you can find characteristics that will match his or her abilities. For example, if you see your daughter tinkering with machines, opening watches, or breaking a toy car to see how it works, that child is definitely a left-brain child, while if you see your son reading books, creating art, that child is definitely a right-brain child.
Since not everyone can be Madam Curie or Tomas Addison or Picasso or Michael Anglo, I find that teachers in schools are really good at determining what category a child belongs to. Simple tests can be created to determine a child’s aptitude for understanding from the beginning of his or her academic career and which majors he or she should pursue.
Naturally, none of that occurs in our area, so we insist on a psychometric test that has a 90% to 95% accuracy rate in identifying the position of our talent, that is, whether it is the right brain or left brain. If all else fails, suggest to your kids take courses online, like:
For pupils interested in computer science or IT, there is
- Code Academy
- Coursera
- Digital talents | Google Digital Garage
You might learn if you have a left or right brain by taking these classes, but in either case, I’m confident you’ll love them (and to top it up, they are free). I now have to add that creative person may genuinely enter the digital realm and contribute their aesthetic ideas to computers, robots, and smartphones. In this situation, a child is not missing out on the digital revolution. Please don’t pressure your kids to choose a major that will negatively impact their lives; instead, assess their aptitude.
