Answering a puzzling question

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4 years ago

One of these days, my boy asked me a puzzling question: "Why do I have to go to school and earn nothing? It is not fair. If people go to work and receive a monthly salary, we, as children, should enjoy the same benefits. I mean - IN CASH - not medals, diplomas or any other form of appreciation that has nothing to do with money. "

How does that sound to you? When a child asks a question like that, you better be prepared with the right answer!

Well, I know my boy well enough not to be surprised by such a question. He already told me that he'd become an expert in IT, not only because he's passionate about IT programmes and computers, but mainly because he'll earn a lot of money.

I've always encouraged him to be honest and speak his mind, so my answer had to be as honest as possible as well.

First of all, I told him that money is just one of many other forms of reward (and, by the way, he actually sees some of them and gets them from time to time :-)

Secondly, education and learning is a process which takes time and the most important reward should be the feeling of self-realization for doing what you are passionate about.

The advantage of studying and then doing something you're passionate about is that you can easily pursue and attain excellence. Moreover, you can even get offers of collaboration as a part-time job before graduation. And, preferably, those kinds of offers should be related to your field of study. That would be a significant personal development and a valuable practical experience as well.

So, as a conclusion, when you choose to develop your talents understanding the necessity of a solid education, you soon realize that pursuing and attaining excellence is not that hard and earning a good salary is just a matter of time because you chose the right perspective for your professional life.

He seemed quite satisfied with my answer and I felt proud of his great comprehensive abilities :-)

P. S: By the way, my own response proved to be an encouragement even for myself, so I turned on the computer and wrote what you are reading right now :-)

All the best,

Anyii