When I grow up, I want to be a doctor! When I grow up, I want to be a pilot! I am sure many of us Ethiopians were asked the question ‘What would you like to be when you grow up?’ during our childhoods. Somehow, the only professions most of us knew of were medicine and piloting. Twenty or twenty five years back, this would have been tolerated. Given the exposure to the world that today’s technology provides, children these days should have been able to have diverse aspirations. Of course, I would like to refrain myself from generalizing as I know there are children who, right from early age, discover their talents and passions. But if we still hear children aspiring to be only doctors and pilots in this era, we should be asking ourselves ‘what is limiting our children’s dreams?’.
Of course, a child whose basic needs such as education, food and health are not fulfilled may not be expected to have a grand dream for his or her future. The children I am referring to in this column are those who have at least these and other basic needs fulfilled. In Ethiopia, most of us grow up being told that scoring good grades at school and joining universities are the only panacea to success. This belief is so entrenched in our society that children that are weak at school are even made to face physical and psychological penalty and are shunned by parents, teachers and the society at large. Yes, of course, education is paramount for a child’s development and future success. But shouldn’t we consider the possibility that a child who is weak at school may have another calling in life at which he or she can thrive?
I am a millennial and as someone who is from that generation I can confidently proclaim that the way most of us grew up in Ethiopia does not allow us to think outside the box – a state of affairs which still persists to this very day. Our voices as children are generally not heard by parents and other adults. Children are not only discouraged from openly discussing their ideas with adults but are even scolded for doing so. We are raised in constant fear of adults and we end up doing (or not doing) things not because we are convinced we should do (or not do) those things but because those things were imposed on us. Parents (and other adults) get to decide what we should or not do in life.
Our society is now fast changing. Today’s parents are more educated than they were decades back. This comes with the responsibility of raising creative, confident, passionate and ambitious children. Parents should listen to their children, try to understand their inclinations and interests, and encourage them to further develop it. Conversing openly with an adult in itself can give the child the confidence to express his or her own idea as well as develop the confidence to opt in life for the non-conventional. Extra- curricular activities can help unleash a child’s talents and passions, and think outside the box. It provides the opportunity for the child to have an open mind, discover what he or she enjoys doing as well as the things that she or he is good at. Who knows, that child might be the future Cristiano Ronaldo or Serena Williams.
How many of us professionals today work out of passion and not merely for money? I bet many of us are driven in our choice of job mainly by the money we expect to earn and not by our passion we have for the job. Is it because we are desperately in need of money or because we do not have the passion in the first place? I believe that our university placement system can take part of the blame when it comes to our lack of passion at work. Not being able to pursue the studies of our choice obliges us to like what we do instead of doing what we like. Aside from the lack of satisfaction, the repercussion of this is a less than optimal delivery of our assignments at work and seen from a broader perspective, an inhibition of our nation’s economy.
Children are human beings with thoughts, interests, talents and dreams. They should be provided with a fertile ground in which their dreams and talents can bloom and bear fruit. History has witnessed children who right from early age have demonstrated their inner talents to the world. These children knew from the beginning what their calling in life was. The music composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed his first music at the age of 5, the painter Pablo Picasso, who painted his first piece at the age of 9, and the poet Arthur Rimbaud, who published his first work at the age of 15, are few of the examples in the Western world proving that children can dream big. Our children are no different. Let us help them dream big and different!
Ed.’s Note: Tsion Taye is a researcher in the field of Agricultural Economics. She is a graduate of Wageningen university from which she obtained her Masters and PhD degrees. Her passions include reading books and reflecting on life experiences with whomever shares this passion. She can be reached for comments at [email protected].
