The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 31, 1992 -- Page 5'
_ _a t e
dfrdostV
When you
decide you
can't be a
fireman
"What do you
you grow up?"
By this point
in our lives, each
of us has an-
swered that ques-
tion countless
times. But while
the question has
transcended the
years, the an-
swers aren't as
easy as they used
to be.
want to be when
Matthew
Rennie
k.-
But more important, people are,
being forced to answer the question~
earlier and earlier in life - an un,"
fortunate fact that is robbing us of-
youth's benefits.
When we were young, our par-
ents and grandparents asked the
question over and over and would
laugh at the way we would so care"
freely change our minds from weekf
to week. At one point in my life, If
was planning to play second base,
for the Detroit Tigers and be an as-
tronaut in the off season.
But as we get older and career,
decisions become more than idler
speculation, the question becomes
more of a demand than an inquiry..,
Changing our mind isn't so funny;
anymore.
Sometimes the question is eveit
phrased differently: "When are
you going to grow up and do some,
thing with your life'?"
Eventually, we all have to make.
decisions. However, we all should.
have a time in our lives to experi-"
ment without fearing lifelong
repercussions. By forcing these de=
cisions on younger people we are:
robbing our society of the greatest
commodity its youth can offer -4
l1
Many are trying to weather the recession by taking a
graduate course; applications to law schools are up 30
percent from last year.m
imagination.
The youth of our culture had,
always been the source of innov j-
tion. Too young to know any be-
ter, kids try to do something in a
way that it's never been done be-;
fore. More often than not, they falt
flat on their faces, but this inno-
cent experimenting lays the
groundwork for serious growth
later on.
To force children to make bind,
ing career decisions so early in life
is to rob them of this period of in'
nocence. Kids have to spend so
much time trying to fit into the es-
tablishment that they never take
the time to question it.
My brother is a high school jiV
nior. Two years ago, when he was,
choosing his sophomore classes, he
justified one of his decisions by
saying that he needed to take an a6
celerated science program if lie
wanted to get into a college with' a
good pre-med program.
He believed that the classes ld
took during his sophomore year o
high school could affect his longi
term career plans. Whether this is
true or not is irrelevant. He be,
lieved it. He was thinking about
"what he wants to be when hie
grows up."
Four months later, he would re-
ceive his driver's permit.
As college students, we're only
slightly different than my brother.;
Granted, we have to be thinking a
little more about career goals and-
study concentrations, but we still
have a world of opportunities be,:
fore us.
Some time in the not-so-distait
future, we're all going to leave this'
University and be faced with a job
market that doesn't have room fW
another graduating class. We'll all
have decisions to make. Some of i4
will go to graduate school; sonme
will take the first jobs they can
find.
Unfortunately, most of us will
not be thinking about all of t49
things we could do, but rathev
about the things we have to do.
I'm not trying to dismiss the
many responsibilities we all have.-
Many people are paying their owl
way through school and are not
able to have such a PollyannaishJ
view of the world. Still, if ever we
have a time in our lives when we
should take chances, it is during our
youth.
While the country's economic slump is proving to be an obstacle for
many graduates, Taunya Beddingfield-Bismond, married last June to a
University graduate, isn't letting the recession stand in her way.
"I chose psychology because it was something I was always interested
in, andgactually, it's turning out to be a good choice," Beddingfield-
Bismond said.
Enrolled as a school-psychology graduate student at Indiana University
in Bloomington, where her husband is a third-year law student with a job
awaiting him in Toledo, Ohio. Beddingfield-Bismond has earned three
fellowships and a graduate assistantship to help pay her way through
graduate studies.
"I'm not doing exactly want I hoped I would be - I do a lot of testing
of kids and working with teachers. I hoped to be more hands-on with the
kids," she said. Her goal is to get involved in educational psychology for a
school system or community.
Beddingfield-Bismond said she now appreciates and misses Ann Arbor's
cultural diversity, despite remembering feeling a little lost while she was
an undergraduate.
"When you're on the Diag, there's always some kind of protest. You're I
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