It’s the same question every time. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
I think it’s safe to say that I really don’t know.
When I was four years old I wanted to be a veterinarian, not because I wanted to help animals and liked the science of it, but because I just really liked animals. A year or two later I realized that I really did not like science, nor did I want to do anything medical, meaning that there was no way I should be a veterinarian. For a few years after that, I had no idea what kind of job I wanted to pursue.
In middle school I wanted to be a teacher. There were teachers whom I looked up to and I wanted to make school just a bit more enjoyable, just as they did. And then there was a point within those same couple of years where I wanted to be a librarian. Even now I think I’d like to be a librarian, not only because I like to read books, but also because I like the order and organization of libraries.
Throughout high school I played around with the idea of being a teacher or a librarian and figured either one might be fine. Then came senior year and I had to figure out what college to go to and what I wanted to major in. Eventually, I decided on majoring in music because I knew that I was good at it – the performing part at least – and that it was something that I highly enjoyed. And let’s not forget that I’ve been involved in music since I was little, in one way or another.
And so now I’m majoring in music. What am I supposed to do with a music degree?
Late last year I decided that I wanted to major in music education, all because of a paper I wrote about music education for a class. When I finished that paper, it was then that I realized how much of an impact that music had had on my life, and I wanted to share my love of music with others, be it elementary students, middle schoolers, or high schoolers.
And now the questions are, “Do you know what grade-level you want to teach? Do you want to teach band or choir? What are you going to do after you graduate? Are you going to stay in Louisiana or are you going to go back to Texas?”
I think it’s pretty safe to say that I don’t have answers to any of those questions at the moment.
I’m not even sure if music education is really what I want to go into.
Recently I came across a short article titled 8 Reasons to Stop Asking: "What do you want to be when you grow up?". Of course, I was intrigued as to what the reasons might be, and I have to say that I believe that they are some pretty good points. One of the reasons I would like to point out is as to why everyone should stop asking that question is that it makes a person feel as if they need "to decide as soon as possible.” This could be the reason why I have never truly known what I want to be when I grow up; it’s because I feel that I need to absolutely know right this very moment what it is I want to do supposedly for the rest of my life.
My career strategies professor pointed out to my class last week that my generation will have multiple jobs throughout our lifetimes, and I feel that we’ve all known this growing up as the world changes and new technologies are created. Even though I’m interested in music education, if it’s what I go into once I graduate, who knows how long I’ll stay in that profession? Maybe I’ll decide I would prefer to be a librarian like I once thought about being.
Surely, I’m not the only one who thinks this, but I don’t want to be tied down by having to choose a profession right at this moment. Of course, I really should since I’m an adult now, but there doesn’t really seem to be anything to captivate and interest me enough to stick with it. Anything I’m doing in my free time at the moment, such as knitting, composing, or writing, could surely become a job in the future if I play my cards right, but they’re purely just hobbies for now.
What do I want to be when I grow up? I have no idea, but does anyone really know?
