If everything had gone according to plan, today I’d be a firefighting fisherman with a large and amazing pickup truck for a primary vehicle and a Formula 1 car for getting things done on the weekend. Also, I’d have a helicopter pilot’s license and live in Australia. But the best-laid plans of our childhood are sometimes tough to execute as we mature and fully encounter the “real world.” It’s a bummer.
Yet facing reality is important when the time comes. Otherwise, think of how our nation would be overrun with veterinarians, baseball players, poets, and cowgirls. Wait. Would that really be such a bad thing?
So let’s remember that kids need to be kids. And kids need to dream. They need the support of parents and teachers to do this, and they should not just be considered small vessels ready to be filled with assessment-driven ideas about career and job readiness, in this writer’s opinion.
When you listen to the dreams of your students, what do they want to be when they grow up? Tell us in the comments.
– Todd
PS – I still want to live in Australia and have a helicopter pilot’s license.