Carrer Choices for our children

Yes I agree JPB, grade 6 is far too early to start preparing for college. The child is still young and might (gasp!) not want to go to college at all.
I feel that a child should be exposed to as many different careers as possible, but let them decide what they want to do in the end. Throughout their schooling they will probably change their career choices umerous times anyway.

Just recently, I heard from a Mother that I know, that she is planning on placing her children in a new charter school where they practice "immersion learning".
This means that her 8 year old will be in a class where they are taught while speaking French. And the youngest, 6 ?, will be educated while speaking Mandarin Chinese(!).

The Mother said that this will help them later in life...
I think she may have said something about banking and Chinese, but I'm afraid the voices in my head were saying "MANDARIN CHINESE???" too loudly for me to hear.

Neither of these languages are spoken at home, and I haven't witnessed much brilliance in the children due to their in general bad behavior whenever I see them. (Getting them to sit still enough to learn anything would be a challenge much less learning in a foreign language.)

But it makes me wonder....
How does the Mother predict that these will be the languages that her children will need in whatever field they go into?

It just boggles my mind.

(Sorry if this is off-topic...)

I can understand the Mandarin, after all, there are more Chinese people on the planet than any other nationality. My daughter was in French Immersion, but then again, it's supposed to be a bilingual country in Canada ... the irony is, I enrolled her in it to give her a better education. It seems that at the public (English) school she attended, 90% of the students in her year were non-English-speaking. (Everything was learned by memory). Guess what nationality they were (primarily)? Chinese!

Living in Canada, speaking French, I can understand. That makes sense. How did your daughter do with it, Mame?

Okay, so this is the first, I guess I've heard of this.. Call me backwards. (or someone who has no kids, thus doesn't have to think about it)

But if my parents had immersed me in Mandarin... Well, I can't say I'd be using it today, in any of my careers.

It just seems so dictating to me, about a kid's future. How do they know Mandarin is in their future? Trust me, with these kids, the concentration would be better spent getting them a well-rounded education that they can understand.

Kids pick up languages so easily, though. That's a lot of the reason behind immersion programs, right there -- a child can really pick it up before too long (and the good programs have support for the interim), and then voila, they're bilingual. Lots of benefits to that right there, not necessarily just in pure career-opportunity-type terms.

A friend of mine planned to send her kid to a French immersion school mostly just for that reason -- it's easy when they're kids, and much harder when they're adults, and immersion is about the best way to learn another language. I saw her reasoning. Americans are especially (in terms of other first-world countries) monolingual, I don't think that's necessarily a good thing.

I think too that there is a balance between the two. My folks were totally hands off. I got no direction, no information - very little from them. Not because they didn't want to help. They did not know how to - not being college graduates themselves. Instead I floundered for several years before just pitching a Hail Mary and getting a liberal arts degree. It does me little to no good now...but I do have my degree. I plan to help my kids find their passions. What they love and encourage them to follow them. And when they pick something I think is assinine like Ultimate Fighting then I will encourage strongly to find something logical to fall back on like a business degree. I guess. I am hoping they are wise and that in encouraging them to learn about all kinds of things while still young that by the time they are in highschool they will well be on their path to seeing their goal of biologist or Professional Baseball player fulfilled. :wink:

I really want them to love what they do. I want them to enjoy their job...but I know chances are they won't. Do you think the majority of us hate what we do? How do we keep that from happening? The only thing I can think of is to get them out to learn as much as possible.

Yes, children learn languages very fast and it would be a shame to bypass
these opportunities. Spanish will become more and more important in
this country as are some Asian languages. Kids definitely benefit from
speaking more languages.

Okay, so immersion learning in a foreign language isn't so far fetched.

I learned something new.

Yeah, something in my head, my small-town-ness, I guess, is still whispering "Mandarin?", but I hear what you all are saying. I guess I'll be seeing how these kids grow into it as time passes.

Mismi, Sounds like you have a good plan with your kids.

For me, I never planned to be doing what I do. It does tie into my degree, but I could be doing it without it too. I still love what I do, but there are days when I hate it. Days when I think I should do something else. It is work after all. But I do what I am good at and I take pride in that. I am still learning and being challenged, there's something in that.

Thanks Everyone for a wonderful discussion, I am the same woman as luvmykidsandhubby. My name was kind of long and strange I was in one of those those emotional states of mind when I typed it so I am changing it , I still love them though.

Mismi you really answerd my question thanks, I missed your posts for a while I enjoy reading from a literary point of view when you write passionately about your kids and family and yourself.




Once againg "hate" and happiness being relative terms meaning different things at different times to different people but I do think Human quest for happiness is lifelong . One of my preceptors said Find something that you love to do and you will never have to go to work again.

Although My Dad chose my profession for me I LOVED IT until I felt it was getting in the way of my parenting and Wifing. At that point again my Dad suggested that I cut down. The first time I thanked my Dad for guiding me into my profession was when I started my residency. That is when I really knew what it meant to be a Doctor. If he had nt pushed me I would not have known the many joys it later brought.

So in a way I agree with what the majority is saying but in a diffferent way. What about a kid who possess the talents of becoming something but lacks the initial motivation. If not motivated or in other words PUSHED they may never uncover their true passion and potential. And My Dad was right about being able to persue literary interests later too because I am so Enjoying reading now that I have some time. Just sitting down with my son discussing his Book reports and writing his paragraphs kind of fulfills that teaching instinct too. We did " Harry potter and the Goblet of Fire" today I never had the lixury to read it but that is what he read last weak and discussing it with him was pure Joy.

Re; language immersion it is beneficial for Brain Developement but benefits are at a much younger age. Language center starts closing at 12 so speaking a language as natives is not possible then. My daughter was unintentionally immersed in Spanish , we speak the other too at home usually one parent picks one. She is fluent in three languages at Three years of age. I am touching wood as I type and Thanking God.

Noddy Thanks for your impression of my Professionalism. There were some attempts at teaching it in residency but different people got different things out of it (again relativeness) I think partly it is what t I saw at home too because My parents did not even argue in front of us atleast when we were younger. Now my colleagues no better than to use the So Called BAd words in front of me. The ones who do , do not meet my criterea of Professionalism althoug it is a much broader therm . Sorry for Digressing.

Caribou, my daughter graduated with a Diplome en Francais, and by the way, my son was in French Immersion from K - 8, at which point he wanted out. He is not 'academic' as is my daughter; he's a plumber now, not an essay writer-type. But it still taught him things he'd never otherwise know.