Your four-year-old looks up at you in his oversized rain boots and fireman costume and says, “Mama, I want to be a fireman when I grow up… and build buildings… and be a superhero… and…” Our children are taught that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up and that they should “dream big.”
When the high school your child attends is still telling students that the only way to prove she is educable is to get a college degree and that a college degree will guarantee her a high paying job, it’s time to help your child filter what she is hearing.
There is a current reality shift for our country’s young people. It is no longer “guaranteed” that if your child simply gets a degree, she will get the job of her dreams. Many people are going into decades of debt working on the assumption that they will get a job as soon as they graduate from college and that the job will pay off their debt quickly. There are many young adults who have a masters’ degree and are competing for jobs in their field with people with similar education and often much more experience and spending years in a transition job as they wait for their dreams to come true.
Just like there are many parts of the body who all work together to make the body function the way God created it, there are many careers that must be filled by capable and willing people to keep our society functioning and they are overlooked as a desirable option because of the focus we’ve had on higher education for status and power.
Talk to any over scheduled plumber or electrician about their career choice. You will realize that they are getting paid well, but there is a deficit of people willing to learn a trade to serve others, though the pay is great, and the hours are flexible with experience.
Why would we encourage a young man to get a masters’ degree in philosophy hoping to someday help others when there are honorable career paths that would better suit him, and he could help people right away? We still need firemen, engineers, and teachers, but we need to redefine what makes a superhero in our society. That definition is easy when your plumbing breaks and your electricity stops working!
I still believe in good education, training and experience, but I think we should work with each of our children to make sure they are working toward serving the way they were created to serve. May we know our children well enough to know how to empower them to serve in the society they were born into.
As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 1 Corinthians 12:20
How did God create your child to be of service in His world? How can you empower your child to work toward serving in that way as a career?