As my two daughters revise and take their exam, I look back at the time when I was at school whilst, I spend time explaining how important an education is just as my mother did with me. "Do you want a nice house and nice car when you grow up?" is my attempt to throw some enthusiasm into this dreaded chore that all children go through. The result is, I have one daughter really motivated and another, who thinks 15 minutes, is enough revision and MSN will teach her more. If she really knew how I was with studying at her age, I wouldn't get anything from her at all, because even 1 minute was too much for me. In reality though it hasn't done me any harm. I calculated that 4 years working my way up a business ladder would put me ahead of someone spending 4 years at college and then automatically coming in at a higher level. I decided I would rather have the money and freedom now, not in 4 years time. It didn't quite work out that way, but in my 40s now, I genuinely think I have risen higher than if I had gone to college. First of all I doubt I would have got good grades, studying was just not my thing at that time in my life. Poor grades would have meant me starting not much further on than where I did in the end. By the time I was in my mid twenties I already had considerable management experience that incoming graduates found difficult to challenge. Of course there does come a time in life, when you mature and information does seem to be absorbed easier. It was then I decided to do a distance-learning course in management. It wasn't easy and it took 3 times linger than it could have. However I was trying to fit it in within a busy schedule. I eventually passed and I have to admit felt pretty chuffed about it. It has given me credibility, even though I didn't feel I learnt much, except how to present on paper, what I would normally present verbally. It was then that I learnt, it is important to teach children, as they grow up, but some not necessary academically. Of course they need to know how to read and write, calculate and customs. But what we don't do is teach children about life, what is good and what is bad, it is up to the parents only to do that. How to run a business, how to respect someone, quality of life, the importance of family and more I can think of. Chances are most children do not know what they want to do when they leave school and if they do, are possible following someone else's dream and not theirs. Of course there are the exceptions, who just know that they want to be a lawyer or a football player. Bust most of us need to experience life and roles to know what we really want to do. Only now in my forties I am I doing what I really want to do, after 25 years, earning a living. To be fair however, I needed those 25 years of experience to be qualified. So will I ease off the pressure on my kids to do well at school? Of course not, even with experience that tells me different, I need to push just in case one of them knows what they want to do as they leave school. And as they moan and complain that they cannot go on the computer, I remind them that when they have kids, they will do the same. |
