Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in

which they are unlikely to succeed.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In
developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or
examples that could be used to challenge your position.

Essay:

People many a time develop interests in fields beyond the realm they had previously been in out of
sheer curiosity or fascination, or out of necessity. Dissuading students from pursuing fields the
institution believes the person would not succeed in therefore, is neither in the favor of the
institution, nor the students themselves.

To begin with, students pursuing a certain field are usually backed by a reason for choosing the
field: a woman with a linguistics major may be inspired to pursue a degree in biology because her
father is a biologist; a man with a physics major may want to pursue a degree in philosophy for a
better and more intrinsic understanding of the universe and its sciences. Moreover, students may
have several passions that they want to appeasefrom astronomy to fine arts; from psychology to
mechatronicsand would therefore like to study in an area that is apparently inconspicuous as to
why they would be interested to study. So, it is inauspicious for such vibrant students to be
discouraged from studying other fields.

In addition, sometimes, a person may be compelled to study at a field they would never have
imagined to be studying. A prominent example of the case would be of Barbara Oakley, the author
of the book, A Mind for Numbers. Previously a linguist in the Slavic languages, her job in the US
Army put her in a position where she required the knowledge of an electrical engineer; for that she
had then re-entered college to pursue a degree in electrical engineering, continued up to PhD, and
became a professor in the field of electrical and computer engineering. Had she been not allowed to
study electrical engineering based upon her background, neither would she be in the position she is
now, nor would she have some up with such an insightful book.

Nonetheless, an institution still has the authority to deny students to a field without pertinent
evidence of actual impetus. It is reasonable to assume that the students may waste their resources
on a field they have no academic background in; getting bad grades and failing, and in the end taking
little to no advantage from the degree in the said field. Ultimately, it also hampers the reputation on
the institution. It is therefore, necessary to measure the students caliber as a learner; and their
eager willingness to study in the field should be accounted for and examined by the institution
rather than dissuading them completely.

To sum up, an institution must decide what is best for the students by their capability and
interest in learning as students rather than completely dissuading them from embarking into
unrelated fieldsand then hope that they would succeed.