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Maybe don’t specialise too early, all else being equal

I’m in an interesting position vis-a-vis this. My father was a near master of all trades, could build, fit, wire, landscape homes, my mother was a nurse. My state school was an enlightened one … we were taught all sorts … even the boys were taught knitting, crochet, cooking, as well as woodworking and in our spare time, we learnt the 3 Rs and played football and cricket. Plus hand to hand fighting, natch.

I was a classic case in secondary, given an in, via my mother’s contacts, into a “public school” I’ll not name, which then opened doors into tertiary institutions and employment. The education, if anything, broadened until Form 5 (Year 10), at which point we had to specialise … my error being taking the wrong subjects in the next three years, inc. university but it sure broadened my horizons.

Classwise, I’m multiclass in some ways, feeling just as much at home in a drones club or in a pub with lads and lasses. The downside of course is that one can’t get away with it for long … no demographics you run with ever fully accept you.

Once, after I’d built a fence and shed, my father went over it with a keen eye for fault finding and was silent … being a Yorkshireman, any form of praise would stick in his craw of course, plus he wasn’t outlaying that money in school fees for me to become a builder.

Looking at things today in the light of the article above, I still maintain a kid should have the broadest education possible. If his skills set then makes him a builder or in my case for awhile a screenprinter, then so be it. If a savvy business brain, so be it. If a teacher, so be it. An accountant? Well, I’ll pass on that one.

Only thing I’d say again is don’t specialise too early.