Apa You Punya Ambition?

When I was in primary school (back in the dawn of time…) every year towards the end of the school term, after the final exams and report cards have been dealt with, the teachers had this form to fill where they asked each student their 'ambitions' – what they wanted to be when they grew up.

I don’t know what was the real purpose of the whole exercise, to be honest. Probably it was purely for the benefit of teachers and parents. Parent could forever hold it against their child, “See, last time you wanted to be a lawyer, how come you ended being an unemployed blogger?!” Or perhaps the teacher would say, “Gee, this dumb kid wants to be a politician, I better watch him carefully, who knows what dirt I can use against him if he really becomes a famous politician…”

But at 7 or 8 years old, I can tell you most kids would put down jobs like Doctor, Lawyer or Policeman. None of us put down real-life jobs like Senior Training Consultant, Structural Design Engineer or Systems Analyst. You won’t see ambition like Victoria Secret Catalogue Photographer, Male Underwear Model or Pirated VCD Entrepreneur, either.

So why Doctor, Lawyer and Policeman? I dunno. But for my class, when we asked to give our ambition, we would go something like this:

Students: “Apa itu ambition, cikgu?”
Teacher (waiting for the class bell): “Tak kisahlah, letak sajalah apa-apa. Doktor ke, Loyar ke, Polis ke…”

So all of us put down exactly what the teacher said.

(Side note : You know, when I read in the newspapers that primary school teachers are suppose to be career guidance counselors by identifying and nurturing specific talents in their students, it really cracks me up.)

There’s nothing wrong in aspiring to be a doctor, lawyer or a cop. I’m assuming my teacher thought of them as noble professions when she rattled them off, and in fact they ARE still good jobs. So did I end up working in one of the three hallowed profession?

Doctor? Heck, when you’re 8 years old, you would not realize the 7 years it needs to study medicine (not including 1 year of housemanship) This is not to mention the 5A’s required in STPM. And the fact that most families won’t be able to afford to send their kid to study medicine.

Lawyer? I’m assuming being a loyar buruk doesn’t count as one. I dunno, once I reached secondary school, law never interested me (despite watching the glamorous LA LAW), I was studying in science stream anyway.

Police? I don’t think I can tahan the rigours of cadet life. But on the plus side, had I applied for the job, I would have made front page news in one of those article that say, “Only one Chinese applicant for police force again this year…” (With a picture of a shirtless me struggling to do a push-up)

Being a blogger counts as a respectable profession, right?!