"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
For the past three years, I have been mentoring several students from various backgrounds, who are preparing for their HSC.
When I first meet them, one of the questions I ask is about their goal – why are they studying?
Most of my students have the goal of getting the "highest ATAR" they can achieve and then deciding what is available to them.
There is a sense of permanence and limited scope for these students.
They think that it's what they will have to do for the rest of their lives – or they have an expectation from parents and peers to do popular bachelors like law or business.
Some of my Christian students are concerned about the desire to be successful or that the industry they want to work in is far from God and closer to corruption.
All students are concerned about their future prospects and the potential for failure.
And it's true - in reality it's really difficult to decide your career direction when you're a mere 18 year old.
However, it's not helpful when older university students, or working professionals try to give advice to these kids.
The power of their words about how hard it is to study, or how difficult it is to get a real job or how poorly the job pays can seriously sway their ability to look beyond high school and dream of a future.
I've had aspiring architects burst into tears after being told they'll never find a job in that field or a student inspired to be an environmental scientist because she was told that it "pays well."
Personally, I've even been told from a complete stranger on the street that I'm wasting my time studying journalism because my career has hit a dead end - before it's even started.
Studying for the HSC without a goal makes it difficult for the students to apply themselves and perform the best they can.
Encouragement
We should be encouraging our students to not give up and telling them they are worthy.
The world is now a fluid marketplace of careers and opportunities. It is also already filled with enough negativity, without crushing dreams.
In my opinion, dreaming about the different possibilities in life, and how we can steward God's worldly blessings in our lives to do good is what sets us apart from non-believers.
We should be encouraging our students and our children to shape up their dreams and find some purpose in their studies, because God the father has called us to be stewards of the Earth.
To be a steward is not to take ownership of what God has blessed us with, but to look after it and multiply it. Not to multiply it to feed sinful desires, but to use our blessings to be a blessing to others.
Tertiary education is not the important thing here, but for teenagers in Australia, this is their time to get their education – a blessing.
The success of this is not to be measured in their score, or achieving a place in medical school but be able to store that privilege and use it for God's kingdom.
The parable of the master and three servants from Matthew 25 is what I envision this to look like when we face God, if he has provided us with a plethora of opportunities, and we have been too fearful to take action.
We are all called to take action – but how can we do so if we haven't been able to think about how to achieve what?
Jenny Min Kim is studying Media and Communications at the University of New South Wales, she comes from a dynamic family of four, she has an exciting hobby of reading hotel descriptions and has an interest in food, fashion and fitness.
Jenny Kim's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/jenny-kim.html
