NHdisneylover
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
Realistically, every one of us is qualified for /would enjoy a number of jobs. No one is saying, "You must go into ____ career for the money, even if it makes you miserable." Rather, the right answer is to help kids filter though multiple careers that would suit their personalities and abilities; often kids don't figure it out right away. For example, I'm in my third decade of teaching high school seniors, and I've never had a single one go away to college saying, "I'm going to be an accountant." But I've had a bunch come back saying, "I started in general business, but once I took my first accounting class, I knew I should change majors."
I don't think I've ever heard of anyone going full-scale drill-sergeant on their kids demanding, "You will study ___ and you will like it!"
So you pulled out one sentence from my post in which I tlk about a balance between supporting a student in doing something they want, which may not be a "money" driven career, and react as if I am saying everyone needs to do pnly what they are meant to do? weird. I fully agree with you that it is damaging and not relaistic to sell kids (or adults) the idea that they have one true passion or calling and nothing else is worthwhile (another problem with that is it supports the notion that the "right" job is always fun and fufilling, so then when they hit a hard period in their caeer they are more likely to give up, and think they chooe the wrong path).
I also think it is damaging to sell the idea that everyone is equally inclinced towards any career and that moeny or time off or job securit are the only parts to look at when choosing. I am big on people thinking about the whole picture, as much as they can anticipate it, and choosing wisely based on many factors.
Also, I have not full on drill serageant, but I have certainly known parents who started pushing a career on a kid when that child was junior high aged and never really let up just talking baout it as a done deal to the point that the kid didn't really even consider other options---or what all is involved truly in the option they started studying (sometimes the kid themself showd ineterest in that field as a tween or young teen and parents globbed onto that meaning the kid WILL do that---not leaving any space for growing and changing minds later, other times it was all parent driven). Heck, in this thread alone you can find examples of parents talking baout what kind of field their 12 year olds will be gping into. My oldest, at 12, was several years in to saying they wanted to go to MIT and study engineering. Now? Same kid is a senior at a state school studying to be a Special Education teacher and has zero interest in being an engineer.
A big part of that is that high school keeps getting easier and easier (as a high school teacher, I am not proud of that). We want a near-100% graduation rate, but many of our students are not willing to work like they did a generation ago -- and many families are just not supportive of education. A high school degree doesn't mean what it used to mean.
Mark Twain said, "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find that the harder I work, the more of it I have." The world isn't getting any easier, but I definitely see "life skills" slipping in my high school students over the years -- people skills too.
.
Really? I do see a trend to make some things simpler (like being allowed to turn in late work with little or no penalty), and holding hands more as far as making sure they get work in, know what to study, et but overall, far more content is covrered in HS now than it used to be. The minimum math required for my kids was about the same as the "college prep" requirenment when I was in school 25 years earlier (basically becuase the new assumption is everyone is college prep) and my father in law said on moe than one occasion that his grandkids took more math in highschool than he did as a physics major in university.