Make Your Way 7, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

When I grow up ... The newspaper article below reports on a study on what influences children in choosing their future professions. Choose the correct part (A–G) for each gap (1–5). There are two extra parts that you should not use. 4 Children and their future jobs A recent study by educational psychologists on what influences childhood aspirations has reached interesting, if somewhat predictable, conclusions. (1) By the age of ten this had risen to 85%. As for the girls, 40% of the six-year-olds wanted to be nurses and 30% wanted to be teachers. At the age of ten about one third wanted to be teachers and the rest couldn’t make their minds up between being an air-hostess or a hair-dresser. (2) There is little doubt that gender is a key issue from a very early age. However, another important factor that increases with the child’s experience of the world is that of role-models. Parents are particularly influential at an early age, and most children will go through a stage of playing “mums and dads”. Then, when the child starts school, teaching becomes a popular choice as the child identifies a new powerful influence. (3) Another issue is social class. Children from upper-class families are more likely to identify with the professions of family and friends, which explains the continuation within families of doctors and lawyers, for example. (4) Parents are often worried that their children choose jobs with lower social-economic status than their own, as if this may reflect badly on them. However, wanting to do better than your parents can also bring problems. (5) Other factors that help children make up their minds included “official” advice such as career booklets, favourite teachers and the subject they taught, informal advice from friends and family (more important to girls), job satisfaction (also more important to girls) and potential earnings (which was more important to boys). A Sometimes a rolemodel may arise through more unusual circumstances. For example, a child who spends some time in hospital may easily adopt a desire to be a doctor or nurse. B Therefore, when deciding in which professional direction to go, it is often worth considering hobbies and interests as we are more likely to be good at something which we enjoy doing. C Given this sexrole stereotyping, it’s difficult to see girls dreaming of a life fighting fire or boys wanting to earn their living dancing ballet. Of course, some do. D An attempt to get a better education than your parents, brothers and sisters can lead them to a “so we’re not good enough for you” attitude and problems within the family. E What the report didn’t concentrate on was the influence of the media on children’s aspirations. In these days of 24hour media bombardment, this can be called a serious shortcoming of the findings. F But sometimes this may lead to choosing something as far removed as possible, in an attempt to rebel. G The study of six to tenyearolds in the UK found that 70% of sixyearold boys wanted to be sportsmen, especially footballers. 182 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv