My Daughter (Son) Wants to Be a… Back to the Basics (Part 12)
Categories: Léo’s Insights 2023-2024, Back to the Basics
Aside from specializing in confusion, schools do a great disservice to students when they program them in computer fashion. One way this is demonstrated is by telling students they can be anything they want to be. Although this may sound reasonable at first blush, it is a big fat lie.
Many years ago, while addressing a home education conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland, I was tasked with addressing post secondary pathways. I was immediately made uncomfortable by a number of teenaged students who were looking up to me for direction. I silently prayed “Help!” and came up with a good idea. When I asked how many in the general crowd had some kind of post-secondary accreditation, three-quarters put up their hands. When I asked them to leave their hands up if they were working in their field of training, most put their hands down. When I asked how many were satisfied with their present employment, nearly all the hands went up.
The moral of this story is this: Most people bought the nonsense about being able to do whatever they wanted to do, and for most it was a failure. Yet everyone was happy with their current employment. Even though man’s way failed, God still saw to it that most everyone found their right place in this world.
I have seen this idea of being whatever we want manifested endless times. Children often voice their desire to be veterinarians, child psychologists, marine biologists, forensic scientists and so on, mostly without having a clue as to what the career path entails. Even more disturbing, parents believe and support this pie in the sky approach to future possibilities.
Be reasonable. Your nine year old cannot possibly understand what is involved in getting to his/her current career choice. Most of the time parents don’t either. Our job is not to make a scientist, doctor or lawyer of our children but to train them up in the Lord. Let God lead the children into their life calling. You can’t because you are not any more able to see into your children’s future than the school system that thinks it can.
To learn more about thinking about your child’s future, see the blog post A Few Final Thoughts About Careers: https://leogaumont.com/index.php/2018/03/26/a-few-final-thoughts-about-careers-a-practical-guide-to-home-education-planning-ahead-part-9/
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