Today and Tomorrow – When the Dream Factory meets Reality

From time to time we all come to think about our future. That’s absolutely natural because no one can stop the time passing by and we all happen to grow up – some more than others – but we all do. An important subject in our considerations is the choice of our job. This job should fit our special interests and abilities but these can change very often. The most interesting plans for our future are definitely made when we’re young enough to ignore reality.

 

 

So let’s start at the very beginning in primary school. I asked some students from the fourth grade what they would like to become when they’re older. The answers weren’t surprising: Most of the boys would like to become a football star and the rest whishes to be a pilot, but not only that, it has to be an acrobatic or fighter pilot. Well, the answers of the girls weren’t realistic, either. They wanted to become stuntwomen or detectives. Asking them why they favored these jobs they answered that they looked cool on TV. In contrast, the boys were influenced by their own hobbies.

 

 

The way some children excluded some jobs was also funny: They didn’t want to become a doctor because blood is disgusting, bakers have to get up too early in the morning and being a pastor is boring because no one likes praying all the time. We see that simple mood changes can influence what children want to become or not.

 

 

In our last school year we’re, of course, not that naïve anymore, otherwise our civilization would collapse with all people just working as pilots or stuntwomen. Over the last few years we learned that cannot to do anything we like and that it’s not easy to get the jobs you want. That loss of freedom is kind of sad and, in my opinion, we should all remember from time to time what our dreams were because, even if it’s not realistic, we should keep some creativity.

Michaela Sass, Germany
 

 

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