What do you want to be in the future?

It is inhumanly impossible to recollect how many times I have been asked this question and each time I give the same answer. At one stage in our lives we have all been asked this question. More often than not, it will be asked by your Head of Year, Parents, Teachers and peers. Each time they will get the same answer from me. A simple ‘I don’t know’ and I shall tell you for why…

The idea children younger than 10 years old, are being asked what they want to be in the future baffles me. It, however, is nice to hear the crazy imaginations of young kids but it all gets a little more serious as you start taking exams in high school. The horrid thought that you are not going to get anywhere in life due to the fact that you failed one of your exams - makes me so angry. The fact that teachers are telling you that you must decide where you see yourself in 10 years in order to build a ‘good school education’. Despite only being 14, I have even started looking at sixth forms and collages that I might apply for when I’m 16. Not only that, on a number of occasions, I have been asked if I want to go to university. These thoughts make my brain freeze.

It feels like yesterday that I was running round a playground playing ‘it’ and deciding whether to watch Horrid Henry or ScoobyDoo when I go home. It’s simple. I am getting older. This is a hard idea to come to terms with. Moreover, the about of times I have heard adults say that ‘us kids’ are growing up too fast. Maybe they need to take a step back and realize that times have changed. I am no longer safe to go on adventures in forests, play footie in the middle of the road or make friends with random people in the streets. Times have changed. Or so we think. Maybe times haven’t actually changed.

I am still living back in Victorian times where, I am made to seclude myself from people to study and take exams yet the majority of my future working life will be spent working collaboratively with others. Logical thinking is completely thrown out the window in my view. I believe exams are stupid. Dumb in fact. No one should be judged at how smart they are by seeing how many facts can be jammed into their heads. No one should feel the immense feeling of failure at such a young age.

TO BE CONTINUED…