|
|
||||||||||||
Preparing for the future while living in the present.I'm a planner by profession and personality. That has its good side: I can navigate reasonably well through life. But the down side is that I sometimes overlook the spontaneous, the here and now.
I was thinking recently about the pros and cons of career planning versus living in the moment and how to put more Zen into being prepared. Two educational events this month in the Blackstone Valley provided wonderful opportunities to anticipate the future while honoring the present. The first event was the inaugural Richard A. Zajchowski Educational Forum held at Touchstone Community School in Grafton on March 2. This speaker's forum, established to honor Head of School Dick Zajchowski who will retire after 18 years this June, featured child psychologist and best-selling author Michael Thompson, Ph.D. Thompson is perhaps best known for co-authoring Raising Cain, which explores the emotional life of boys. Thompson spoke to the Touchstone audience about the topic of his latest book, The Pressured Child: Helping Your Child Find Success in School and Life. He discussed the damage that well-meaning parents inflict by pressuring children to look at each stage of their education largely in terms of its consequences for future stages. This plays out in the absurdity of anxious parents competing for seats in exclusive preschools so their children can get into exclusive elementary and secondary schools and then into the Ivy League. What's the prize for crossing the finish line: a totally successful life? Most parents would agree that a satisfying life can be found along a variety of paths, and a blue-ribbon education doesn't guarantee success. Children, Thompson argued, need to have the life that they're actually living - not some future potential - valued by their parents and teachers. They need positive connections with friends and community. They need spontaneous fun. Human beings are biologically wired for development, and each step must be taken at its own pace. Valuing the present doesn't mean ignoring the future. That's where the second educational event comes in, the regional sophomore career fair presented on March 15 by the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation at Northbridge High School. The third annual career fair, sponsored in part by Verizon, hosted nearly 1000 sophomores from Blackstone Valley Tech, Blackstone-Millville Regional, Grafton, Hopedale, Millbury, Nipmuc, Northbridge and Uxbridge High Schools. Forty-two different career-area representatives were available to meet with students, and college and career-planning expert Paul Lynskey gave a presentation on preparing for tomorrow's careers. Grafton sophomore Heather Graham interviewed Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) engineer Zach Cobb about his job. The EAW table was Graham's third stop after meeting with representatives from the federal government executive board because she wants to work with currency, and with the University of Massachusetts - Stockbridge horticulture program because "plants are cool." She said, "My dad wants me to be an engineer, but I don't know what I want to be. That's why it's really helpful to go to this." John Bartosiewicz from Millbury High School raved about his conversation with legal services representatives from the District Attorney's office. "I learned about the lawyers, they told me what I should major in college and gave me a few pointers." Bartosiewicz also met with a culinary arts representative from Johnson & Wales University, and learned he's already on the right path for that career option. "She said internships are very good. I'm actually doing an internship at a restaurant right now." Education scholar Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi said, "To educate means to lead out. [To] educate is to expose kids to many possibilities until they find a connection between what's really important to them and the world out there. And then we must nurture and cultivate that connection." Having the chance to ask professionals what they like and dislike about their jobs, what the range of opportunities and requirements are in a field, and maybe even make a connection for future internships helps students start to find the path that's right for them. Perhaps the balance between planning for the future and valuing the present is in trusting kids to discover for themselves who they are and where their interests lie. Then give them wings so they can fly. "Focus on Education" March 2005 Read previous Focus on Education articles...
Six years of focusing on education. (November 2006) |
|
Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
