A lot of what your students say reminds me of what I hear people say in graduate school. Nobody wants to be rich nobody wants to be successful in the traditional sense. People want to feel fulfilled and comfortable. It feels hard to do that in the modern day I suppose.
I also want to note that the young man who wants to be a pig farmer and his parents potential aspirations reminded me of an old philosophical concept on identity. I can't remember the exact quote but it was something like "the son tries to remember what the father wants to forget" or something along those lines. It's supposed to be in relation to immigrants, race, and family tradition but I think it applies to family heritage and identity generally too. I felt it here in a sense!
This is so interesting! So much of what they say sounds like what I hear from the high school students I work with at our church, as well as my husband’s university students. And even as a millennial (I don’t feel old, but the high schoolers think I’m old 😅), I resonate with that desire to have work be the activity that enables you to support your family rather than being an end in itself.
A lot of what your students say reminds me of what I hear people say in graduate school. Nobody wants to be rich nobody wants to be successful in the traditional sense. People want to feel fulfilled and comfortable. It feels hard to do that in the modern day I suppose.
I also want to note that the young man who wants to be a pig farmer and his parents potential aspirations reminded me of an old philosophical concept on identity. I can't remember the exact quote but it was something like "the son tries to remember what the father wants to forget" or something along those lines. It's supposed to be in relation to immigrants, race, and family tradition but I think it applies to family heritage and identity generally too. I felt it here in a sense!
Thanks for sharing!
This is so interesting! So much of what they say sounds like what I hear from the high school students I work with at our church, as well as my husband’s university students. And even as a millennial (I don’t feel old, but the high schoolers think I’m old 😅), I resonate with that desire to have work be the activity that enables you to support your family rather than being an end in itself.