‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’
The question comes long before they’re expected to graduate with a well-formed game plan for the rest of their lives.
Potentially they’ve only been shown a pathway towards a university education and have little information to make an informed choice outside of this option as it’s presented to them.
In 2015 I was honoured as the W.A. and Australian Apprentice of the Year, and in my role as an ambassador for Australian Apprenticeships, and the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector I’ve been asking the same question of many kids I speak to around the country.
I was asked this question in year 9, and after changing schools in year 10, and after changing schools in year 11, and even after dropping out to study music.
‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’
I was, and still am, an avid drummer, and a lover of music from many genres, so conversations at ‘adulty’ gatherings would usually awkwardly go something like this;
Adult: “Do you know what you want to do?”
Me: “Ummmm, I want to be a musician”
Adult: ……… “oh”
Now obviously I didn’t end up as a musician, but that’s another beautiful point of the conversation ‘you can change your mind, and therefore you can change your plans, and your future’.
I now find myself asking the exact question of kids in year 10 and above, but I prefer to word it differently “have you thought about what you might want to be as you grow up?” which is a question much less burdened with the requirement of some kind of definitive answer.
I now love hearing the different answers that come back, some sure, some not, generally it goes like this.
Me: “have you thought about what you might want to be as you grow up?”
Highschool student: “ummmm, geeze I don’t really know”
Me: “Well there’s lots out there! Here, let me tell you a little bit about VET, a little bit about universities, and then let’s talk about what you’re interested in and how that might help you think about it after today?”
Let’s be honest, there’s more diversity of employment, and therefore education, out there than thirty of forty years ago when the youth of the time were presented with far fewer choices.
In Year 10 the school I was at didn’t yet offer what is now referred to as ATAR, so I decided I needed to move schools so I could get an ATAR.
Then in Year 11 I decided pretty quickly that in fact, I didn’t care about getting an ATAR because I had no idea what I wanted to do with it really.
After that, I dropped out of high school after one term in year 11 because I was completely disengaged from the education model, and at the same time I was battling mental health issues.
I attended a local TAFE to study music and again decided that… well, I don’t want to do this anymore, and yet again I changed my mind.
Whilst working full-time for a couple of year across several different jobs I finally got a taste of something I liked… Electricity and Electronics… so I changed my mind about working full time and went back to TAFE to start studying Electro-technology.
Since then I’ve completed by Electrical apprenticeship with my employer Western Power, and elective engineering study, I’m halfway through an associates degree in Electrical Engineering, won a couple of hugely amazing and humbling awards, been appointed an ambassador of Australian Apprenticeships, and most recently joined Western Power’s Emerging Technology and Innovation team to work on a suit of projects based majorly on renewable energy sources!
And all because I decided to change my mind again.
And that’s my point, its okay to change your mind, I must’ve done it myself at least half a dozen times now.
What I’ve learnt is that no matter what you choose to do, please choose to never stop learning, please be curious, dare to be different, and please have hope.
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