Paradise Under Your Feet — Page 127
Chapter 7: College Years and Beyond 127 take action. If living at home is not possible, then it is preferable to share accommodation with room-mates of the same gender and values. Choosing a Major and Career Choosing a major for college depends upon several factors, including strengths and weaknesses in high school. By this time, some children can have a pretty good idea about their preferences: what they value most in a job, do they want a profession which helps society or are they looking simply for a safe job which they can depend on, what are the future trends in hiring in different fields, how their area of expertise will help the Jama ’ at, etc. Counselors can also help in this decision. Parents can assist by recognizing the predisposition of their child and guide them but should not thrust their own wishes on the child. If high school graduates are uncertain about the career path they want to take, rest assured that many students change their majors after they enter college or even enter college with an undeclared major. Before graduating from high school, it is helpful to dialogue with children about career choice and also to point out what fits in with Islamic principles. Again, this decision cannot be made on the spur of the moment, but is something which has to be thought out and discussed before entering college. Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih IV (rh) in his Sermons on Waqf-e-Nau children, laid down some guidelines for suitable fields of study for women: “ Waqifin girls should be taught education, medicine, computers, typing and languages. As far as education of these girls is concerned, it will be beneficial for them to get a degree in teaching…… Similarly, we need female doctors to do Khidmat-e-Khalq (social work). We need computer specialists and typists. Other than the job of a