Careers advice for 7 year olds…& MPs?
Education Business, In The News, Primary Education Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
We at EducationState think that it is very, very sad that, according to the BBC, “Children as young as seven are to be offered careers guidance under a government scheme in England.”
Is this what children really need or will remember? Psychologists tell us that our automatic, non-conscious behaviour starts early on in life but we, as humans, have the ability to adapt and change life course – of course, only if our environment lets us. In other words, rather than telling yet more kids that being a builder, plumber or mechanic is not as good as being a lawyer, slippery servant or management consultant, shouldn’t they being doing something about creating ANY job opportunities and tackling child deprivation?
These reforms sell the line that it is OUR fault for not getting a job when where you live and who you live with is by far the greatest influence on how your life pans out.
Another clue regarding the real motivation for this initiative is contained within the following passage: “The Department for Children, Schools and Families wants teachers and parents to build on this to get children thinking about higher education, especially those from homes where no members of their family have been to university before.” This is saying the Government is recruiting numbers for university so that the young, especially of poorer families, can be saddled with debt, pay fees and keep the status quo going.
Eventually childhood will disappear altogether and ‘children’ will be known as ‘pre-adults’. Children aren’t here to serve the wishes of slippery serpents and the incumbent Government. Leave them be.