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Monday, October 22, 2007
When I Grow Up…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spent a couple of hours this weekend with a group of middle school girls involved in a new mentoring program from the Latin American Association and the Junior League of Atlanta.
Called “Estrellitas” — meaning Little Stars or Starlets — the girls meet each Saturday to talk about issues, such as peer pressure, affecting their lives.
The gathering this weekend was focused on careers, so I was asked to speak about being a journalist.
Answering questions from the teens and pre-teens got me thinking about all the things I wanted to be when I was growing up:
- a prima ballerina
- a world-renown cardiologist or neurosurgeon
- a constitutional lawyer arguing cases before the Supreme Court
- the first female president of the United States
Notice any similarities there?
For some reason I thought I was destined for great things. But not just great things, mind you, phenomenal things. Things that would separate my life from everyone else’s.
A lot of kids have grandiose ideas about their adult lives. But what would the world be like if more of us were able to realize the achievable dreams of our youth?
Or, to ask it another way: What would school have to look like for more children to realize their dreams when they grow up?
UPDATE: The Dalai Lama was installed as an official, distinguished professor this morning at Emory University. In his remarks to students, the Tibetan leader said something that, I think, adds another dimension to this discussion: “With no training, no modern education, now, somehow, I got a professorship.”
