Parents Still Influence Kids

Typically many children end up going into fields their parents were in.

Your parents teach you what they know, not necessarily what you need, or want to know.

So right Transcendian. What scares me is that the study results are not really (no disrespect intended at all) ground breaking but more affirmative of the very foundation of didactics....

Your "environment" teaches you. As a child you are "designed" to learn from everything around you. Parents should be playing a huge part in forming the foundation for your career. However I believe many parents have abdicated their mentor roll to the TV, internet and the child's like (un-)minded peer-group. This study again highlights just how important our parental (AND grandparent's) roll is.

My own studies as an erstwhile postgraduate student of tertiary education leaned to three key areas that had a noteworthy influence on the students' resolution to advance in scientific fields. These were:

1. Parental motivation. This irrespective of the parents personal education levels. But all too often it came out of poverty and their desire for the child to have a better life. In South Africa we had the additional dynamic that the oppressive apartheid legacy dealt us. It motivated on both sides of the cruel colour divide. As always the parent with a positive outlook on life was more successful than one with a negative world-view.
2. Parental research. Did the parent portray an inquisitive mind, searching for answers to any unknown. There is a huge difference between an approach of; "let's find out about that.." as opposed to;"don't worry me, I don't know..." A parent does not even have to know where to find answers, the notion to the young mind that an explanation is out there is all it takes to switch the young mind into exploratory mode. If that is followed with; "that looks cool, let's check it out to see if we got it right..." as opposed to "don't come with that crazy stuff again..." then you are bringing up a scientist. AND as a parent you do not need Grade 5 to ask those constructive questions.
3. Parental and teacher creativity. Both will either preserve or more often than not, methodically go about destroying the most wonderful of human gifts, creativity. Make a study of Dr Kobus Neethling's work on creativity (http://www.kobusneethling.com) and pass some of this incredible wisdom around!!

History has shown clearly that without these three elements the very fabric of civilisation.....its educational system, will fail to produce a worthy crop of scientists an engineers. The 3rd point above is certainly the worst culprit for killing engineering. We are educating people to regurgitate the same old...same old.... and if a wise ass kid dare to challenge the establishment with a new idea.... ooooh boy! The contra to this has been clearly portrayed by the IT industry's young bucks. We old poops simply could not keep them back. Good on them!

Give yourself a treat....read up on Kobus Neethling's work.

Hi Bushdriver

Thank you for posting this. I was just about to dismiss the "Parents Still Influence Kids" statement until I read your "Parental motivation". When I think of parents I instinctively reference my mom, but you reminded that my father actually sparked my inquisitiveness. When I was very young, probably around five years old, I remenber him having stacks of National Geographic magazines. Lots of interesting things to see, one of them being a "television", the likes which we only saw in the flesh years later. My father also later assisted in helping me understand the basics of electricity when I was a school boy... right up to the time that I realised that my knowledge and ability to learn new (relativley) complex information had exceeded his!