Life is about choosing something you need the most. However, people tend to pick things related to their passion, including students. Most of the time, teachers and parents see students as children who need direction to live their life. In their opinion, children cannot distinguish between what they need and what they like. In contrast, they do have their rights to decide something, or in this case, choosing what subjects they want to study. Although people think that determining what subjects students will learn is for their goodness, I personally believe that students must have been let to choose what courses they want to study for some reasons.
Those who agree about the idea of determining what subjects students will learn state that they will study only about their favorites and not be able to learn other subjects. Students tend to learn what they like all over again and leave the least favorite subjects behind. However, students only want to take courses they like. When students have the ability to choose what they like to learn about, it makes them more eager to engage with the material. Students can study further about them as well. Hence, they will get better score on that subject. If they can master the courses and get better marks on them, it will motivate the students to continue their studies to higher education. For instance, if you let your kids study science, which the subject they prefer to learn, they will be confident enough to take science major in college. They will study further about that subject, and who knows that in the future, they can be a scientist? Of course, it will make you proud as parents. Letting your children choosing subjects is a best option.
Opponents also say that students should be exposed to compulsory subjects, such as science, math, and language. They need to understand basic subjects, for they will help students in real life. Besides, if they take only their favorites, they will not get enough education and knowledge. In my opinion, too many compulsory subjects they are exposed will make them feeling under pressure. Based on my experience, I felt stressed because I had to learn physics and chemistry, in which I disliked the most. It felt like I was forced to learn about them. In the end, I got bad scores on those subjects. Learning is supposed to be fun, not burdensome. Students will feel forced to learn what they dislike, like my experience. They will find difficulties in learning those subjects instead of enjoyment. In brief, exposing compulsory subjects to the students is not good.
The last opponents’ argument is, basically, students are still children who cannot be responsible of their choices. Children will be influenced by people around them and possibly make a wrong choice. They will choose the easiest subjects, anyway. On the other hand, by letting them to choose the subjects, students can learn to decide something that is related to their future and be responsible of it. They will be independent and will learn how to be responsible. They are the one who do the learning activity and it is their rights to choose, to select the options. If we still treat them like kids, they cannot be independent and always rely on us. They cannot stand alone and always need to be pampered and spoiled, like a little kid. Therefore, letting students to choose can be used as a training to be responsible.
In brief, I believe that students must have been let to choose the subjects they want to learn. It is their rights to pick, to choose, to select what they want. Hence, I strongly support them to choose the subjects they prefer to learn about.
Source : https://www.testbig.com/ielts-essays/students-should-choose-subjects-themselves
Picture Source : https://www.collegexpress.com/articles-and-advice/majors-and-academics/blog/top-study-tips-every-high-school-subject/