Encouraging Students to Follow Their Dreams…is it Right or Wrong?
I’ve said many times in my 29 years as an educator that we do a pretty good job at teaching our children the basics and an overall lousy job of helping them decide what to do with it in our education system.
When children are young we ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Many of them change “careers†from day to day. Others have a passion that hits them early and keeps them focused on that “career†throughout their school life.
Somewhere along the way things can get a little tense when it comes to career planning. I’ve seen that happen so many times with students. I’ve seen the pain in their eyes and heard the fear in their souls as they describe what their parents want them to be and where they want them to go to college. Many parents put career pressures on their child with all good intentions. They can guilt their children into doing something they really don’t want to do. Some want their child to fulfill their own personal dream that they never achieved. Others just don’t stop to think that insisting their child go to a particular school or focus on a particular career is not always the best thing for that child. It can take the very possibility of a career passion and a life full of happiness away from a young person. It can simply destroy a dream.
So how DO you help your child develop a realistic passion for a job that will fulfill them and help them be productive citizens without controlling their lives? What role, if any, should a school have in that process?
As a school counselor for many years I had a passion for helping students discover what they might want to do for a living. I loved career counseling. That, I thought, was one of my major jobs and I wanted to make sure that every student was able to find that dream and develop it adequately.
Today, school counselors and teachers have so many “jobs†that it’s simply hard for them to fully concentrate on helping students this way. With this in mind, our SC legislature had the foresight to realize there needed to be some intervention and concentration on career guidance. They passed legislation to hire a career development facilitator in every middle and high school that would collaborate with students, parents, teachers, counselors and other key figures to help students develop a career plan. These facilitators must pass a nationally developed training program that takes over a year before they can become certified to do this kind of work. All of them must have college degrees before they can even be considered for the coursework.
I am happy to say my sister decided that, though she loved teaching English to high school students, her real passion was to help them discover their career dreams and make plans to do what they loved. She took the training, was willing to take much less pay to do this kind of work, and is now beginning to make that kind of difference with her high school students in Greenville. It will not be easy and there will be many challenges, but she will do it, because she has a passion for these students and wants to see them succeed.
I am proud of her for following her dream. Each student she works with will indeed be fortunate to have her in their corner. EVERY student deserves that…an adult in their corner who supports them in their career choice and helps them look at how they can get there.
I did this with my son, and even today I have to hold my opinion sometime less I squash his dream. I am SO proud of him. He is in a very non traditional career…doesn’t work a regular 9-5 day and sometimes, doesn’t actually earn a salary for months. He manages, though, and – most importantly – he is VERY HAPPY doing what he does. He may change one day and go in a different direction…maybe not. Right now he is doing what he believes he should be doing and he KNOWS his mother supports his career decisions.
What more could a parent want??? What more could a child want???
My wish for you today is that you support a child as they follow their career dreams…whether you are a teacher, a parent, a mentor, or a volunteer. Support their growth. Let them discover who they want to become and embrace that with them through the joys and struggles. You won’t be sorry.
~ Joellen