FORUM

TOPIC: Children should be encouraged from young to focus on future career choices.

SYAHIRAH: Assalamualaikum and good afternoon. I, Syahirah Binti Zainal Abidin will be the chairperson for today and this is IPPM Forum. This is a segment where we randomly choose any IPPM students to ask their opinions of certain issues. Before I proceed, allow me to introduce the speakers for today. I have here with me, Miss Norsyuhaida Binti Sahari, Miss Nurnabillahhuda Binti Rosdan and the last one is Miss Nur Syafiqah Binti Abd. Razak. They are all from Prasekolah PISMP January 2011 Intake. Welcome aboard and please make yourself comfortable. Now, moving on to the segment We have conducted a poll to select a theme for todays segment and surprisingly we received a high request on this. [Showing a board written CHILDREN] So girls, do you like children? Would you like to have them in the future? Which one do you prefer, boys or girls? This is getting quite personal. Im sorry. All right! When I think of children I often think of the future. Thoughts like what would they look like when they grow up? How would they act as a grown-up? And also, what would they be when they grow up? When I was little, I often had been told by my parents to have an ambition. One that I can achieve and be satisfied with. In accordance to that, lets take a look at the topic for today. [Showing the topic title] Children should be encouraged from young to focus on future career choices. Do you agree on this? Syuhaida, what say you?

SYUHAIDA: Yes, I do agree. Childrens mind can be manipulated easily by external influences. Before their minds got corrupted by lots of bad influences, it is best to encourage them to focus on future career. This way they will likely be able to study hard once they enter the school life. Parents play an important role to guide them on choosing the suitable future career. However, parents must not try to manipulate their children and draw them into the area that they believe is best for them. If parents push too hard or underestimate their kids sense of false, they may repel them to an area that the child could otherwise really like. This is simply because children have delicate minds. They tend to absorb any information that they receive and believe in everything the parents said and done. SYAHIRAH: I see. I have done some internet search on todays topic and I found out that toys may actually provide clues to childrens future career. What do you think about this? SYUHAIDA: That is quite true actually. We always see children playing with various toys and games and we often heard about them role playing with the toys and games they play. For example, recently my parents had bought a set of doctors kit toys for my younger siblings and since then they always play doctors and nurses around the house and also talking about wanting to be a doctor when they grow up.

SYAHIRAH: How interesting! I also found other evidence on that particular subject. [Showing the LEGO.com research papers] It seemed that That was that. Now, moving on to the next speaker Huda, do you agree on todays topic? HUDA: On the contrary, I have to say I disagree on that. This is because children are too young to be thinking of careers. There are still a lot more they can learn and explore as a child. What Im trying to say is that children shouldnt be nurtured with mature thinking at such an early age. Future career can be decided when the children is older. As an adult, they should be able to distinguish whats good and bad for them and also having the freedom to decide their own career path. This is the right time for parents to help guide their children in choosing the right career so they wont end up regretting the decisions they make. SYAHIRAH: But what makes you say that children should think about careers when they are older? Why not earlier? HUDA: Children have experience a lot during the learning process at school and of course they must have one subject that interest them so much as to trigger their own desire to look for a career that has got to do with their favourite subject. For instance, a student who got into the pure science course at form 4 maybe would want to look for a job in the field of science. Meanwhile, for a student who got accountancy course would want to be working in the field of economics or even in the business world.

SYAHIRAH: Well that makes sense. Thank you for the explanation. How about you Syafiqah? What do you think of todays topic? SYAFIQAH: As for me, I have to disagree. The reason to this is because children are still so young. They do not have much knowledge about the field of career they decided to choose. They still havent recognised their own skills and talents. Skills and talents need time to be developed so that they can be more precise on choosing the career that is suitable for them. Parents should allow their children to explore more during their childhood so that their skills and talents can be developed through that experience. SYAHIRAH: We often heard of parents enrolling their children in a kindergarten at an early age of 4. Do you think its reasonable? SYUHAIDA: Yes, because childrens mind is still fresh and so they can receive as many knowledge as possible. SYAFIQAH: No, I dont think its reasonable at all. By doing so, children will miss a lot of playing time. As we all know children love to play. Playing is a natural process of learning, gaining experience and skills. Playing is a necessity for growing children. Without playing, their minds could not continue to develop, they could not communicate with other people and therefore they will become passive.

SYAHIRAH: I see. Thank you for your opinions. From the discussion, it can be concluded that thinking of future career is not necessary for children. They still need to learn and explore more of their surroundings so that they can develop their own skills and talents. Generally, parents need to guide their children so they can decide on a suitable career that they would really love to do in the future. Well then, thank you girls for joining me on this segment and also thank you once again for the brilliant opinions. To everyone, thank you for listening. This has been IPPM Forum and I will see you again next time. Have a nice day!