Teaching fish to climb trees

It may sound a bit immodest to say it, but in high school I was a model “other people’s kid” in the eyes of my parents and teachers. If my report card were converted into a phone SIM card, it would probably be worth a billion.

But the path of an all-round excellent student, good at all subjects (except physical education) is not as straight as people think.

After graduating from high school, following the “persuasion” of three teachers of mathematics, physics, and chemistry, I registered my university aspirations as an engineering school with a rather “macro” vision: to become an engineer in the energy industry. At that time, nuclear energy was a hot field in France in particular and Europe in general.

But for my parents in Vietnam, the news was like a “thunderbolt”. My mother kept repeating the same song: “Why should a girl study engineering and suffer?”, “If you study nuclear energy, how can you find a job in Vietnam?”, “You don’t like group A, so why did you choose that major?”… Sure enough, after 2 years of general education, I dropped out of engineering and changed 180 degrees to communications. It turned out that I really didn’t like group A. Why didn’t I realize that from the beginning?

When you like something, you tend to be good at it, but when you are good at something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you like it. After the above-mentioned wrong turn, for the first time I seriously asked myself: What do I like to do? The answer is: I don’t know. For the first time in my life, I was confused by my “all-round academic excellence”. It’s like when you have too many choices, you will have more difficulty making a decision.

I thought of a classmate - who was always complained by teachers and scolded by parents for being the worst student in the class. The only subject he was good at was the one that no one cared about: Physical Education. But the result is that now, while I am still an ordinary employee with a meager monthly salary at a small private company, that worst student in the class is already a national-level athlete. And I suddenly realized how important it is to understand one's own abilities and desires. While our education system and educational thinking are using a very limited yardstick, like judging a fish's ability by making it climb a tree.

Recently, a friend explained to me about the so-called fingerprint biometrics. Simply put, the shape of a fingerprint is directly related to a person's personality and ability. Thanks to that, people can predict a child's inclinations and potential, thereby creating conditions for them to receive early education in the field in which they are talented. Instead of cramming them with math, physics, chemistry - things they are not interested in and not good at, they can become an excellent dancer or circus artist if trained with the right skills.

In fact, in many countries around the world, people often let children choose the item they like from a series of options to predict their inclinations. A child who chooses a pen or a book is likely to have a talent for writing, a child who likes electronic machines or numbers is likely to like things related to basic science... like that. Of course, this method is only relative, but it shows the interest and appreciation of adults for the interests and inclinations of children.

At this point, I hope that the person reading this article is not “feeling guilty”. I hope that you have at least once found out – in one way or another – what your child likes to do and is best at. If that question is too difficult, try answering this question – I believe it is easier: What does your child not like? If the answer coincides with what you want to impose on them, then you are probably teaching a fish to climb a tree in vain.