Freshman year! Man, even thinking about that is more than a little freaky. Because no matter how much I look at this:
All I see is:
My little boy, with a backpack bigger than he is, getting ready to head off for his first day of school.
The kids are encouraged to have a general idea what they want to do *after* graduation, so that they can plan their courses accordingly. So these kids, who aren't even in high school yet, are looking past to their adult lives. Can they really know at this age what they want to do? I know I changed my mind a billion times, when I was able to even think about it rationally at all. There were so many other things cluttering up my mind, thinking about "real life" wasn't really a priority.
Mark had wanted to be an author for the longest time. Now, he is thinking about going into the medical field. This is based on loving the dissections and biology classes in eighth grade science. Um. Yeah. So he is looking to take Latin and loads of science in high school, to prep him for pre-med.
There are worse things he could be doing. At least he is aiming high, and will be well-placed to go on to university. (gad.....UNIVERSITY!!! My boy at college! Brain....overload....warning, warning, warning! Danger, Will Robinson!)
I need to go find a paper bag to breathe into. mk
5 comments:
Great pictures of Mark...it's amazing how fast he has grown.
Pre-med...wow! I wish I had taken Latin instead of French. Actually, I wish I had done a lot of things differently in high school. On the other hand, I'm not interested in doing any of that over again!
Hmmm...yes, time is flying w/ the kids, isn't it? That pic of young M is adorable.
And no, kids shouldn't be expected to know yet what they want to do for sure. Some do and some don't. I'd say most don't actually. There is too much to explore yet as far as topics of potential interest. No one should feel they have to nail down a career path in any permanent sense before even starting h.s. :)
-bm
I'm more than a little apprehensive at the thought of anyone going to my boy for medical treatment. I've seen what he does slicing pie. It's not pretty.
I agree that it's bizarre to expect a child to know where they want to be for a career nine years from now. Very very few kids have realistic visions of the world that include their life, much less a job. I only ever remember having to decide which track to be on, regular, college prep, or honors. There weren't anywhere near as many options or prerequisites as there are now.
When I was at the age your son is right now, I was more concerned about not getting lost in the vast high school hallways (and not looking like a total fool) than anything career oriented. It was all about social survival then. I didn't even expect to socially survive til I was 18, much less get some job with MORE scary people at an even bigger building than my enormous high school. Yes, I was pathetically insecure and scared of crowds of new people back then. Oh wait, I'm still kind of scared of lots of new people! So much hasn't changed. Good thing I'm not working...
-bm
P.S. the other thing I spent LOADS of time focused on in that era was exactly how to roll my jean bottoms. If you roll them too tight, they ride up your ankles. If you roll them too loosely, they de-roll themselves. If you don't roll them at all, you're a socially inept dufus. Yes, my life was so burdensome and complicated back then. Career? What's that? I'm BUSY! I'm rolling and rerolling my jeans before school!
I perfected the pants-rolling early on. It was a hard look to let go of, because I was so very skilled. ;)
And by the way, rolling the perfect pant in no way prevents you from being a socially inept dufus. Proof positive here.
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