My son is almost 16 and nearing the end of his last “mandatory” year of school. He doesn’t want to go back next year. He can’t see the point of school. It’s a difficult thing to deal with. I’m passionate about him continuing on though the rest of high school and into university. I was talking with him last night and I explained it this way.
When you were five, if I’d just let you eat what you wanted then you would have lived on lollies and ice cream. Now you’re a little older you understand that you can’t live on lollies and ice cream. You know that although they taste good, you just need to have other things in your diet (like coke and meat pies ;)).
We went on to talk about things he might want to do. He doesn’t want a desk job, fair enough, but he has it in his mind that all jobs out of university are boring desk jobs. “I don’t want to sit in front of a computer all day.” He a gregarious kid, outgoing, happy and a bit of a charmer. I’m trying to show him that there are careers that will allow him to be involved with people, get outside, that going to university doesn’t mean doing a desk job.
It’s an ongoing process.
October 10th, 2005 at 11:30 am
I think that an increase in applications to Science degrees over the last 10-15 years can be directly attributed to the career of Marine Biologist. I mean imagine having to scuba dive for a living!
October 11th, 2005 at 9:40 am
paulgraham.comhttp://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html
Tell him it’s all about keeping your options open. Going to uni does not rule out the possibilty of choosing a career in garbage collection. Not going to uni does rule out a whole bunch of careers.
Don’t forget about university open days. They’re a great opportunity to drag him along to meet “academics” and talk to them about the sort of things you can do with a university education.
As a last resort, enforce at least this ultimatum: if you choose not to go to school (or uni), that’s your choice, but only if you are otherwise gainfully employed. Bumming on the dole (or flipping burgers) is not an acceptable option.
December 10th, 2005 at 8:32 am
Going to university was one of the best things I have done. Yes it lead to a desk job but a my desk has been in so many different countries that I have lost count. Opportunities appeared and were taken that only came from going to university.