‘Never force your children’

NILAI: Parents should not force their children to pursue courses they have absolutely no interest in, said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon.

The parents should instead talk to their children and find out what they want to pursue so the chances of them doing well would be greater, he said.

“Some parents will decide what they want their children to do or which college they want them to go to, years before they finish their national exams such as the SPM.

“When you force your child to pursue a programme he or she dislikes, the consequences can be de­vastating,” he said after presenting Remaja Perdana certificates to 135 youths in the state at SJK(C) Kuo Min here.

Sharing a true story from his own experience, he said he had a friend in a similar predicament.

“I knew this friend whose father wanted all his children to become engineers just like him,” he said.

“Although this friend of mine was more musically-inclined, he was not given an option to pursue music as a career.”

He said that to please the father, the friend duly completed his degree in engineering but imme­diately pursued a programme in music after graduation.

“And today, he is a successful music engineer in a leading private university,” he added.

Chong said there had been cases where people pursue programmes they had no passion in and suffered in silence.

“There have been cases of suicide too because the child cannot handle the pressure and the high expectation,” he said.

Chong said parents could always gauge their child's interest or potential by looking at the psychometric assessment carried out when they were in school.

Earlier, in his speech, Chong commended the youths for taking part in the Remaja Perdana Award.

The programme, designed for youngsters between 14 and 25 years old, is tailored to inculcate good values in them and to encourage them to work in teams.

During the programme which takes between six and 12 months, the youths are encouraged to do community services and volunteer work, skills training and participate in extreme and physical activities to build their character.