1 When we hold a traditional career day, Johnny's mother comes in and talks about how she, as a doctor, takes care of sick people. Then, Susie's father speaks about being an accountant and managing business expenses. At the end of this exercise, there are the implied (暗示的) questions: Do you want to be a doctor? Do you want to be an accountant?
C
2 While well-intended, this approach has significant limitations. For primary school students, this traditional method works well, as the goal is to introduce them to possibilities they may never have heard of. When it comes to secondary education, however, this is no longer enough. 2
F
They may not yet know what they want to do, but they are beginning to explore their options. 3 What we don't traditionally get in the presentations is what people actually do in the job. 3
D
What the six-year-old doesn't know, and unfortunately even a sixteen-year-old doesn't know, is that being a doctor isn't just about treating patients. For a typical doctor in private practice, it also means handling a lot of paperwork, hiring and managing staff, and marketing to patients, among other things. 4 4
G
Talk about having lots of meetings, or only a few meetings. Explain whether you spend a lot of time looking at documents or meeting new people. Get into the specific tasks and how often you do them. 5
E
The key is simply to ask presenters to get a little more detailed about how they spend their days, even the boring parts, and talk about why they like or dislike certain parts of their jobs. In the end, ask students to look not at the specific job titles, but at job responsibilities, so they can effectively create their own jobs. 5 A. All kids know about teachers and doctors. B. No one with those jobs was at a career day. C. These questions have simple answers: yes or no. D. Even a six-year-old knows that doctors take care of the sick. E. For students, imagining their own jobs may sound more exciting. F. By high school, students are already starting to think about careers. G. A better approach is to speak about what actually happens in the jobs.
