▶ Your Answer :
Deciding to go
back to school, especially for graduate courses, is a tremendous choice for
people, thus, the courses and programs should be determined through thorough
considerations. The word, dissuade, has a negative connotation in academic
settings; however, persuading a struggling student to rethink his/her academic
pathways is necessary as the statement.
Professional
development is the number one reason for going back to graduate schools in most
cases, and it costs abundant money and time to attain a degree. That is why
people call it a “life changing decision.” Because of this concern, the courses
should be cogently aimed and structured for one’s particular purpose. Candidates
are required to compose a statement of purpose (SOP) for the same reason, which
plays a significant role in admission processes. Nonetheless, if the situation
is not likely to succeed in a graduate program as stated in the prompt, the school
must advise the students to reconsider their academic path for the students’
better choices.
Additionally,
in terms of advising (not just dissuading) students, dissuading process should
be implemented for students who struggle in a course, which is a fundamental learning
process. From time to time students never know what they are good or bad at,
but their professors will be able to catch them. This is where the advising
meeting starts from. For example, even though a student wants to pursue his degree
specialized in Phonetics, by writing a quixotic SOP, professors, based on their observations and assessment, may dissuade
him for the decision, rather advise him to alter his specialty to other subjects (e.g., Semantics). It is not easy to receive that
kind of advice; however, the student would welcome the dissuading comment
because he knows that the advising meeting and comments are made for his better
academic career. Also, this whole process will teach him a valuable lesson: once
started, you will find a better way, on the way.
Despite those two reasons, the importance of a life-changing decision and learning a
fundamental lesson, one can say that academic challenge is essential and you do
not want to let your students give up that easily. This argument is
understandable for some cases; however, there would be helpless cases, in
which this type of dissuading will be taken into account. For instance, we can
see a English major student suddenly changes his path to mechanical engineering
inspired by a computer industry’s guru, e.g., Steve Jobs. The student might be
happy at the new beginning; however, he is more likely to end up struggling
with basic terms and concepts in mechanical engineering field. In this case,
dissuading process will be much better than keep challenging him.
Although academic challenging can contribute to better performances, dissuading
or advising students to think it again must be carried out at least once in a
school year. This process can enlighten the students life changing and learning
path in more invigorated ways. |