THE NEED TO EMBRACE ALL DISCIPLINES

By Igbadoo Aondongu

Imagine what a society made up of only medical doctors and lawyers will look like. Everybody in our society today wants to be either a lawyer or a medical doctor due to reasons best known to them. Most parents today compel their children to study courses which most times are contrary to what the children intend studying.

The popular saying goes – “all human beings are born equal but some grow to be more newsworthy than others”. Our society also considers this saying in terms of professions (law and medicine) out of the numerous others and makes them the best professions. Some of these people give reasons that, when you study medicine or law, you quickly get a better job as soon as you leave school; but if you study other courses like psychology, sociology, preprimary education, human kinetics to mention a few, you don't easily get a job after school and then become a commercial motorcyclist; but believe you me; I know graduates from these disciplines that some (medicine and law), who are working under graduates from the other disciplines. If you are not destined to be great, even if you study medicine or law, you are just wasting your time. 

This is the most reason you see some of these medical doctors vying for different posts in government. Mr. John Ogi, who once won the award of the most innovative lecturer in the department of Mass Communication, says and I quote: “there are many jobs out there, and if you can't find one, then you create it for yourself”. This means that, you must not study medicine to be employed in a hospital but whatever course you study, you can create a job for yourself.

To my surprise, I hear people that are not yet married saying - their first two children will be lawyers while the remaining two will be medical doctors. Some of these people say all these due to the fact that they pay huge amounts in hospitals for treatment and their fellow relatives snatched their lands from them, so they want their children to study law so that they can get back their lands. I consider all these as ignorance.

Parents who force their children to study courses that are contrary to the children’s choices, should stop it because, they are causing harm not just to the children but to the society at large. Some of these people that study medicine because they want to enrich themselves or their parents want them to study it find it difficult to even to do an operation because, they are not endow in the field but rather forced themselves to be there. In terms of lawyers, this situation gives us different kinds of layers like adjournment lawyers, charge and bare lawyers and more.

No human being is self sufficient; therefore, there is no profession that is self sufficient but if you know one speak it out for the public to hear. When you get to a hospital, you don't only see medical doctors likewise the court of law. The services of an accountant, technician, public relations officer circulates information, the technician helps in maintaining and operating equipment and guiding counselor gives out advice to patients. But if everybody studies medicine, who will carry out the other functions that a hospital will smoothly move and if doctors are doing all these, then it means that they are jacks of all trade and masters of none and then, you can guess what will happen to our society. This does not only apply to medicine but also to law because without the mass media, lawyers cannot carry out their duty of interpreting laws effectively and the rest.

I therefore, call on all of us to not just study any course that; I want to make money or my father wants me to study it in order to save the society from the challenges we are facing. I also urge parents who force their children to study the courses that are contrary to the children's choices to read the play titled “Sons and Daughters” by JC De Graft and then desist from such act and grant their children the freedom of choice so that we can have a better society tomorrow. Success depends on determination and working towards its achievement. As a mass communication student, I am hoping to have a multi-media firm at the end of my programme, and what if I'm called to anchor an event? Will I still go and study medicine to be employed in a hospital? I am not dreaming but I am working towards the achievement of my ambition but then, what about you? Is your intention to study law after having your first degree?  Think of it and make a change so that we can have a better society tomorrow though it does not mean that these two courses (law and medicine) are less important. If  a doctor can save one soul, as a journalist, I can also save a soul with my pen and if he can destroy one then I can call for a war that can destroy the whole nation with just my pen so, I am proud of my course and I expect you to be proud of yours too.