SCHOOL DEBATE DEBATE TOPIC:OPPOSING THE NOTION THAT SECONDRY SCHOOL STUDENTS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO PICK FUTURE CAREER. SAKUTATION: Good day the Panel of Judges,Accurate Time Keeper,Co-debators,the audience and fellow students. I am here to speak on the above topic and put forward convincing points/arguments on WHY SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PICK THEIR FUTURE CAREERS The debate over whether secondary school students should be allowed to chose their future careers is one of great importance to our educational and national development. While some argue for early independence and self-expression, this position ignores the realities of adolescent. Choosing a career is not like choosing a favourite subject or a football club; it is a lifelong desision that determines financial stability, personal fulfillment, and societal relevance. Secondary school students, who are still in their formative years, are not equipped with the maturity, knowledge, and experience to make such a weighty decision alone. I therefore strongly oppose the motion that secondary school students should be allowed to pick their future careers. The following points will justify my stand. FINANCIAL AND JOB SECURITY A career is not just about passion; it is primarily about survival. Secondary school students choose careers based on what looks fun or famous, not on what is economically viable. They do not understand labour market trends, salary structures, job saturation, or the threat of automation. An adult, however, understands that while everyone wants to be a musician or a footballer, the economy also needs accountants, agriculturists, and teachers who have more stable incomes. For instance, thousands of youths rush into Theatre Arts because of social media glamour, only to graduate and remain jobless. If guided by parents and counselors who understand economic realities, students will be directed towards careers that guarantee financial and job security, not just temporary excitement. ACCESS TO RESOURCES AND NETWORK Even if a student has a brilliant career dream, a dream without resources remains a fantasy. Careers require funding, mentorship, and connections. A secondary school student has none of these. Parents and guardians are the ones who will pay for university fees, buy the tools, and connect the child to people in the field. It is therefore illogical to allow a child to choose a career that the family has no resources or network to support. A child who says he wants to become a pilot when his family cannot afford aviation school is setting himself up for frustration. Career choice must be a collaborative decision where adult resources and networks are considered. LEVERAGING ON EXPERIENCE AND WISDOM Adults have lived, failed, succeeded, and learned. They have wisdom that no textbook can give. A secondary school student is choosing from a world he has only read about, while a parent or teacher is advising from a world he has lived in. For example, a teacher who has seen ten sets of students knows that a student who is good at cramming Biology may not survive the rigours of Medicine. An experienced parent knows the character required for a military career versus a business career. Allowing students to ignore this pool of experience and wisdom is like refusing to use a map because you want to discover the road yourself. We must leverage adult experience to save children from avoidable mistakes. ALIGNING WITH FAMILY VALUES AND INVESTMENT In Africa, career is not an individual project; it is a family investment. Parents invest their life savings, sell properties, and make sacrifices to educate their children. A career choice that contradicts family values, religious beliefs, or long-term family vision can destroy that investment. For instance, a family with a thriving legal practice may be training a child to take over, but the child suddenly decides to become a DJ because of peer influence. This is not just personal choice; it is a betrayal of collective family investment. Career guidance must ensure that the child’s future aligns with the values and investment the family has made over the years. PROTECTION FROM EARLY FAILURE When a secondary school student is allowed to make a final career choice too early and fails, the psychological damage is enormous. Failure at that tender age often leads to depression, school dropout, drug abuse, and loss of self-esteem. Many students who insisted on studying Medicine against their aptitude have ended up with multiple failures in JAMB and years wasted at home. If that choice had been guided, they would have been directed to a more suitable field like Medical Laboratory Science or Nursing where they would excel. Adult guidance acts as a protective shield, preventing early, life-scarring failure. STUDENTS ARE PSYCHOLOGICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE Developmental psychology tells us that the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for long-term planning, rational decision-making, and consequence evaluation, is not fully developed until the mid-20s. Secondary school students are adolescents, driven by emotions, mood swings, and hormones. What makes them happy today makes them angry tomorrow. A student who is heartbroken may suddenly decide to become a monk; a student who just watched a movie may want to become an FBI agent. Such emotional instability is a dangerous foundation for a lifelong career decision. They need stable minds to guide their unstable minds. LACK OF EXPOSURE AND INFORMATION The average secondary school student’s knowledge of careers is limited to what he sees around him: Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, Teacher, and Entertainer. He has no idea that careers like Forensic Psychology, Data Analytics, Agronomy, Geoinformatics, or Human Resource Management even exist. How can you choose what you do not know? Allowing such a limited mind to choose is like allowing a person who has only visited two villages to draw the map of the world. Adults and career counselors have wider exposure and can introduce students to a broader spectrum of careers that match their hidden talents. CHILDREN'S CHOICES COULD BE AS A RESULT OF PEER PRESSURE, PARENTAL CONTROL OR SOCIETAL GLAMOUR Most career choices made by secondary school students are not original. They are borrowed. One friend says, "Let's all do Engineering," and the whole group chooses Engineering. A mother who failed to become a nurse forces her daughter to become a nurse. A child sees musicians spraying money on Instagram and decides to become a musician without knowing the hard work behind the glamour. These choices are not based on aptitude, personality, or strength, but on external pressure. Such careers, built on imitation, rarely last because when the glamour fades, the reality remains. CHOOSING CAREER EARLY WILL DENY THE STUDENTS BROAD-BASED VIEWS AND PERSPECTIVE NEEDED TO NAVIGATE IN A COMPLEX AND INTERDEPENDENT WORLD The purpose of secondaryglobal education is to be broad and exploratory. A student should learn a little Mathematics, a little Literature, a little Economics, and a little Science to become a well-rounded individual. If we allow a student in SS1 to say "I have chosen to be a Lawyer" and then he abandons Science completely, we are creating a half-baked graduate who knows nothing outside his narrow interest. The modern world is interdependent; a doctor needs business knowledge, a lawyer needs technological knowledge. Early specialization locks students into silos and denies them the broad-based worldview needed to function effectively in the 21st century. INTERESTS AT SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL ARE UNSTABLE AND SHALLOW Finally, the interests of secondary school students are highly unstable and shallow. In JSS1, a child wants to be an astronaut. In JSS2, because he won a debate, he wants to be a lawyer. In SS1, because he met a pretty nurse, he wants to be a doctor. These are not passions; they are passing fancies driven by immediate environment. Research shows that genuine, stable career interests only begin to form after age 18 when identity becomes more consolidated. To allow a child to build his future on such shifting sand is to build a house that will surely collapse. CONCLUSION In conclusion, while it is good to listen to the voice of the child, it is dangerous to hand over the steering wheel to a learner. Secondary school students need guidance, not absolute freedom, in career choice. Because of issues of financial security, lack of resources, need for adult wisdom, family investment, protection from failure, psychological instability, lack of exposure, external pressures, need for broad education, and shallow interests, they are not ready. Let us train them, guide them, and expose them now, so that when they are truly mature at the tertiary level, they can make informed, stable, and sustainable career choices.