Stop Asking ‘What Will My Child Become?’: Why Career Discovery Must Start in School

When parents ask schools to help their children choose the “right” career, they are asking an important question—but perhaps in the wrong direction.

Aptitude tests, career counselling sessions, workshops and interactions with professionals can certainly help students explore possibilities. But these interventions often begin with “Which career should this child choose?” before addressing a more fundamental question: Who is this child, and how does the child think?

That is where schools need to begin.

The careers today's students eventually enter may look very different from those their parents pursued. Artificial intelligence is one major force reshaping employment, but it is not the only one. Technological disruption, geopolitical shifts, climate pressures and changing attitudes towards work and personal life are simultaneously transforming the workplace.

Trying to prepare a schoolchild for one specific profession in such an uncertain environment can therefore be limiting. Instead, education should help children develop qualities that remain valuable even when jobs change.

What No Algorithm Can Replace

The more important question is not only what skills the future workforce will need, but what qualities will remain uniquely human.

Curiosity, resilience, emotional intelligence, the ability to tolerate uncertainty and the capacity to build genuine relationships are unlikely to become obsolete.

These should not be treated as secondary “soft skills” added to an academic curriculum. They are fundamental capabilities that can determine how successfully a young person navigates education, work and life.

A child who can recover from failure, ask meaningful questions, understand others and remain calm amid uncertainty may be better prepared for an unpredictable career landscape than one who has simply memorised a list of supposedly future-proof professions.

Why Schools Have a Unique Role

Parents play an important role in shaping their children's aspirations. However, their understanding of careers is often influenced by their own professional experiences, economic circumstances and social networks.

Schools have a different vantage point.

A good school observes children over several years and across different situations. Teachers may notice the student who becomes animated during a debate, another who thrives when solving open-ended problems, or a child who demonstrates quiet leadership in a group without ever receiving formal recognition for it.

Such long-term observation can offer insights that a one-time aptitude test may miss.

Career Guidance Is Also About Formation

The deeper responsibility of schools is not merely identification but formation.

Well-designed social and emotional learning programmes can help students develop self-awareness, communication, empathy, resilience and the ability to build trust.

Research from the Harvard Study of Adult Development has also highlighted the importance of strong relationships to long-term wellbeing and life satisfaction. This reinforces the idea that education cannot be reduced to academic achievement or professional success alone.

The Question Schools Should Ask

True career discovery does not begin with telling a Class 11 student what profession to choose. It begins much earlier, through years of reflection, exploration, challenge and encouragement.

The goal should be to raise children who understand themselves well enough to make thoughtful decisions rather than simply following someone else's definition of success.

The central question for schools, therefore, should not be “What will this child do?”

It should be:

“What kind of person are we helping this child become?”

The career, ultimately, can follow.