Parental Influence on Career Choice of Secondary School Students

 Parental Influence on Career Choice of Secondary School Students

Background of the Study
An individuals membership of a particular social class has important implications for his life style. At the beginning of young adulthood, according to Elton (1967), the individual must make a choice of an occupation, which will to a large extent determine the direction of the rest of his life. The choice of Career appropriate to, and in consonance with one’s interest and aptitude is of paramount importance for the realization of the personal aspirations of the youth who constitute a large segment of the labour force needed by the national economy.

The modern society is a complex one and people have to choose from a lot of occupations available in the country. The need to make good choice of career becomes paramount if one is to find happiness and harmony, but at times instead of people choosing occupations suitable to their intellectual abilities you see them rushing to occupations which they cannot cope with and this most of the time lead them to a confused end.
The issue of parents persuading their children to read courses like Medicine, Law and Engineering etc due to the social importance attached to them as if it has become the order of the day. Consequently, the by-product of such ill-advised choice of career is that in Nigeria today there are numerous cases of maladjusted legal or medical practitioners who may have excelled in other sphere of human endeavour. For instance, where I live in Owerri (Imo state) there is a traditional ruler who insisted that his son must read Law in order to become a Barrister so that whenever he has a case with the neighbouring communities that his son will help him to win such cases. Unfortunately, his son was not good in English Language and other related subjects. The boy took JAMB severally but he could not make a creditable result. On seeing that his son could not make a good result, his father resorted to some dubious means in order that his son will make it; the boy later succeeded. The boy gained admission into the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus (UNEC) to read Law, but he could not cope with the courses that they offered in the law Department. Consequently the boy became frustrated and finally dropped out of school. Today the boy is roaming the streets of Owerri aimlessly committing one atrocity or the other.
A right choice of career by a youth tends to result in a happy, progressive and fulfilled life, conversely a wrong choice of career may destroy the future progress of an individual, thus leading to unforgetable frustrations and woes. To make choice of career is not an easy process.
Avent (1969) says that the next to the choice of marriage partner is the choice of career and this is the most important decision most people have to make in life. In view of the above the researcher decided to investigate parental influence on career choice of secondary school students.
Statement of the Problem
At the beginning of early adulthood, many young people know exactly what they want to do when they leave school and they are motivated and enthusiastic, several others find themselves drifting into unsuitable or “dead end” jobs where they may be frustrated and unhappy.
Sometimes they enter the job world with completely pseudo aspiration and expectations so that they rapidly become disillusioned and depressed. Usually, vocational maladjustment may occur if the individual chooses an inappropriate occupation because of his inadequacy to understand himself, or because his occupational stereotypes are in error.
Moreover, some rich parents want their children to go into high rated professions such as medicine and Law without considering if the child’s interest is there! This sometimes leads the child to a confused end. Even when such child excel in that course through some dubious means by his parents, the child ends up acquiring a certificate without knowledge, and consequently the child may become dejected in life.
Observation tends to suggest that there are much parental influence on career choice of secondary school students in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. The problem of the present study is to investigate the effect of parents on the students in terms of their career choice.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to Investigate the influence of parents on students in terms of their career choice.
The specific purposes are:
(i)    To investigate whether the career choice of students are influenced by educational background of their parents.
(ii)    To investigate whether student’s choice of carrier are influenced by the socio-economic status of their parents.
(iii)    To determine the extent to which the student’s choice of career are influenced by the occupational preferences of their parents.
(iv)    To investigate whether the career choice of students are influenced by the cultural background of their parents.
Scope of the Study
This study is limited to the study of parental influence of carrier choice of students in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State in 2005/2006 academic sessions. Such influence beyond the area of study. (Ezza North Local Government Area is beyond the scope of the study)
Significance of the Study
This study will be of significance to the large society which education is meant to serve. The following are the beneficiaries of this study.
Students: students will benefit from the study in the following ways, if for the findings of the study it is established that parents pressure their wards into certain carrier for the which the wards have no requisite success indices (attitude, interest, ability etc) thereby programming them to fail. The result of this study may lead to the appropriate for (PTA, etc) to correct this anonymously thereby allowing students to choose carrier of there choice that may lead to their success in such carriers and become useful individuals to themselves and the society.
School principal and teachers: It is expected that the result of this study will help the principal and teachers to embark on vocational guidance and counseling programme in other to prepare her students for entry into the world of work, transition from school to work or into the wider society.
Parents: It is hoped that this study will help the parents to always guide their children towards choosing career congruent to their intellectual abilities.
The general public: it is also expected that the result of this study will help to create public awareness that vocational maladjustment and job dissatisfaction occurs, if children do not choose and appropriate occupation either because of pressure on children, traditions, economic resources parental contacts or because of parents failure to understand the extent of damage they cause by insisting on a particular career for their children.
Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated to guide the research.
(i)    To what extent does parent’s educational background influence student’s choice of career?
(ii)    How does parent’s socio-economic status influence the choice of subject or indeed courses of study of the students?
(iii)    To what extent does parents’ occupational preference affects students’ choice of career?
(iv)    To what extent does parents’ cultural background influence students choice of career?

Parental Influence on Career Choice of Secondary School Students