CHILDRENS' DREAMS & ASPIRATIONS

Every child has big dreams as to what he / she wants to become as an adult – whether that is becoming a professional athlete, film star, doctor, engineer or anything else – but no idea of what it takes to get there.

Dreams are important for all ages as they are an expression of one's potential and give voice to their innate talents. Dreaming about the future is important, but without a plan, it often ends with just that — a dream. It is here that the parents, teachers, principals and counsellors has a critical role to play - in helping young people discover who they are and encouraging their dreams and goals. They should encourage students to think about their future, set goals that will help them start to realise that future, and establish a step-by-step plan they can execute during every schooling year. Thus the student can be slowly and steadily pushed into what is called as the “aspirational zone”.

'Aspiration' is often described as the ability to set goals for the future while maintaining the inspiration in the present; to reach those goals. When a student has dreams for the future and is actively working towards them, he / she is said to be in the “aspirational zone”.

CHANGING ASPIRATIONS

The early years of a child's life are a key time in the formation and development of aspirations. However, these aspirations changes by experience and environment. Aspirations tend to decline as children mature, in response to their growing understanding of the world and as to what is possible and what they perceive as constraints or barriers.

During this time, parents and school needs to play a constructive role and support the children to overcome both practical and attitudinal barriers to higher aspirations. Though the primary responsibility of aspiration management in children lies upon the parents, the school also needs to play a greater role in mentoring the children where family resources are not available to support the child either due to low educational background of parents, their lack of time or disturbed family environment.

Let us examine the role of Parents & Teachers in detail.

ROLE OF PARENTS

Education of a child begins at home and parents are truly their first and important teachers. Hence parents play a crucial role in shaping the future of the children.

Every child has big dreams about their future, but many of them have unrealistic goals like becoming professional athlete or rock star or simply being the richest person on the earth. Though some children do achieve these dreams and should not be completely discouraged, parents needs to be aware of the fine line between encouraging the child's aspirations and steering them towards realistic choices.

Parents should be involved in; what is termed in psychological study of children's aspirations as, “Reflective Practices” and “Scaffolding”.

“Reflective Practice” involves adults thinking about their work with children and planning and implementing the curriculum to best support the children’s interests and strengths. Observing, listening and discussing with children are key components of reflective practice.

“Scaffolding” is a process by which adults support and guide children’s learning, enabling children to reach to the next level of ability, beyond their own personal capability at that time. The term was coined by educational psychologist Jerome S Bruner

The following steps from the parents would be helpful in achieving the desirable results in the academic and career aspirations of the children

• Parents should spend some time with the children on a regular basis discussing their homework and studies.
• Talk to the child about his / her interests / talents / strengths. Encourage the child to participate in extra-curricular activities
• Discuss with the child how careers relate to the each of the school subjects or extra-curricular activities. Also remind the child that all kinds of work are needed and are honourable. This will create an open-mind attitude in the children to every occupation.
• Identify several occupations which would suit the child's interests and strengths and provide more details about the same to the child. Make sure that child is exploring occupations seriously. This would help the child select a particular stream of higher education which will help to achieve his / her career ambitions.
• Discuss with the child regarding back-up plans as to the academics / career; in case he / she is not able to succeed according to the plans. This will help the child avoid or / and overcome the traumatic situation, in case he / she does not achieve the desired results in terms of academic or career plan.
• Once the career has begun, remind the child the need of being constantly updated about the latest developments in the chosen career path and the need to acquire the skills and talents to remain competitive.

Though parents play a key role in building the educational and career aspirations of children, let us also take note of the flip side of parental involvement.

It is observed that most of the parents try to achieve the unfulfilled ambitions in their life through their children. Parents who see their children as extension of themselves try to live their dreams through their children by forcing a career of their choice on the children. This will not only inhibit the natural talents and abilities of the children but also create undue stress amongst the children.

In some of the cases, parents unmindful of their children's interests, strengths or weaknesses; push their children to pursue a particular course with an objective to achieve a particular career which is lucrative and socially respectable in the current scenario; such as doctors, engineers, architects, software professionals. This will have a negative influence on the child if the same is in contradiction to child's own aspirations.

Parents are also found; in some of the cases, to dissuade the child from pursuing a particular academic / career path due to their economic constraints without even exploring the possibility of obtaining a scholarship or educational grant from the government.

Though every parent under normal circumstance is interested in the welfare of their children, many a times; they are unable to involve in shaping the career of the child due to their educational backwardness, lack of time, disturbed family environment. In these cases, the matter should discussed with the teachers, principal of the school so that they show a higher degree of involvement in the child's career guidance and development.

ROLE OF TEACHERS (SCHOOL)

Schools have a key role to play in expanding children’s own horizons. The teachers in the school need to be aware of the role they can play in cultivating children's aspirations. The role assumes greater significance in case of children whose family background does not offer support for their abilities and aspirations. This could be due to educational backwardness of parents, their lack of time / attitude or even the disturbed family environment.

Each child will bring a unique character and personality to school. As children grow, their aspirations too gets changed and they would be in need of appropriate information, advice and guidance. But for some of the children, mere advice or guidance would be insufficient, they may require full-fledged attention and support from the teacher who can help them see beyond their situation to what they can become, and motivate them to take the necessary steps to reach their goal.

But in India, traditionally, teaching has been a combination of information-dispensing, custodial child care and sorting out academically inclined students from others. Teachers are told what, when and how to teach. They are required to teach every student in exactly the same way as their past generations and any deviation attempted from the traditional practice is discouraged by supervisors or prohibited by complex education laws and regulations.

The role of teachers need to redefined so that every teacher understand that their most important role; apart from imparting education, is to get to know each student as an individual in order to understand his / her unique needs, learning style, interests and abilities.

• Apart from imparting the curriculum, teachers should discuss with the children their interests / strengths / talents and understand their dreams / aspirations. They should help the child; differentiate between the unrealistic dreams and realistic ambitions.
• Teachers while discussing the homework with the children should understand the extent of parental support the children are receiving in their studies / homework. Teachers can also understand whether any parental aspirations are forced upon the children against their wishes.
• School should give guidance to the children about the various career opportunities in the job-market which will suit their interests / strengths and guide them regarding the appropriate stream of education to be pursued.
• School can prepare a data bank of their ex-students who are successful in the various spheres of life. Seminars should be conducted involving those successful ex-students who can share their experiences with the children.
• Wherever the child is not receiving parental support in studies / homework or wherever the parental aspirations are forced upon the child against his / her wishes, the same should be discussed in-depth; with the parents, during Parents Teachers Association meeting. There should be regular follow-up activity with the parents in such cases.

School / Teachers can achieve the above objectives by including academic / career counselling as part of their curriculum or having specialised sessions at regular intervals; say weekly or fortnightly.