Kemal's Braindump

My son is now at that point of his education where he can choose some subjects based on his interests and possible carrier aspirations. Last night the teachers were pitching their classes, so that the students can make informed decisions and parents can help them choose (wisely). Offered classes are: – Spanish language – Russian language – Natural Sciences and Engineering – Computer Science

The pitch for Spanish concentrated on the fact that you learn another widely spoken language and the associated culture. Then they started showing pictures of people traveling thru Spain, Americas etc. and talking about how it was great that they could speak with tourist guides in their native language. The Russian teacher tried to explain why it is very important to learn also this language, as it's one of the languages in the Slavic group and these are spoken in a lot of European (if not strictly EU) countries. Pulling east and west of Europe closer together in the future was one of the topics mentioned. The Engineering and Informatics people concentrated that in these subjects you will learn how stuff like instant messaging works, how to solve technical problems, how to build things with your hands, write computer code, improve team work etc. etc.

So about which class did the perspective students and their parents have the most questions? It was ... Spanish!!!!!! That the kids see nice selfies and think “Oh cool stuff!” and “This will be an easier class to pass.” is understandable. But that their parents still didn't learn that carrier opportunities for their kids lie in sciences and informatics, is really beyond me. I guess this is the sickness of modern western society, where people want all the pleasures of life but do not want to learn or work hard for them. Guess they think this will fall from the sky or be achieved by talking nice and extorting wealth from some long lost colonies?

Wake up Europe ... that is over.