cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
The question we should ask kids instead of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” - Quartz
“Congratulations! The job you wanted to have when you were five [years old] is now yours. What do you do now for a living?”
This prompt from music publicist and radio host Eric Alper prompted a lively discussion on Twitter back in January, as social-media users chimed in to share their youthful dreams. Some had successfully realized their aspirations of becoming a teacher or paleontologist or, in the case of singer Donny Osmond, the goal of becoming none other than … singer Donny Osmond. Others had veered from their original visions of finding gainful employment as ballerinas or astronauts or hairdressers. A not-insignificant number of people had planned on metamorphosing into birds or cats or dogs, a worthy ambition indeed.
The point of the prompt, insofar as any Twitter prompt has a point, was to get people to ponder whether, and how, their dreams had changed as they grew up. But according to organizational psychologist and Wharton management professor Adam Grant, we really shouldn’t be asking kids what they want to be when they grow up in the first place.
“Congratulations! The job you wanted to have when you were five [years old] is now yours. What do you do now for a living?”
This prompt from music publicist and radio host Eric Alper prompted a lively discussion on Twitter back in January, as social-media users chimed in to share their youthful dreams. Some had successfully realized their aspirations of becoming a teacher or paleontologist or, in the case of singer Donny Osmond, the goal of becoming none other than … singer Donny Osmond. Others had veered from their original visions of finding gainful employment as ballerinas or astronauts or hairdressers. A not-insignificant number of people had planned on metamorphosing into birds or cats or dogs, a worthy ambition indeed.
The point of the prompt, insofar as any Twitter prompt has a point, was to get people to ponder whether, and how, their dreams had changed as they grew up. But according to organizational psychologist and Wharton management professor Adam Grant, we really shouldn’t be asking kids what they want to be when they grow up in the first place.