What do you want to be when you grow up?
This is a question that we all got asked while growing up. But when a Thai student dared to dream of becoming an American soldier, s/he was shot down by his/her own teacher (soldier pun very intended).
A screengrab of a form for Matayom 3 students to fill in recently went viral for all the wrong reasons. In gist, it asked students to write down two faculties they would like to enrol in and two professions they aspire to based on their chosen faculties. The student answered the faculty of linguistics with a major in English so s/he could one day become a US soldier. A guidance teacher corrected her/him in red ink, writing down "please answer with a possible future career" in Thai.
The teacher also pointed out that there's no such thing as a faculty of linguistics but didn't provide an alternative. The way the teacher "corrected" the student felt matter-of-factly as if the students needed to provide only answers that were pre-approved when it's a form that should allow for some wiggle room and self-expression on the students' part.
I wish the teacher would have replied something along the lines of "Oh, that's an interesting choice but please know that you have to work extra hard for it" and provide links to how non-US-citizens can join the US army and the naturalisation process through military service in the US. The teacher doesn't even have to know English as there is plenty of this kind of info in Thai already.
I guess the teacher forgot how to do a Google search and just assumed that a Thai becoming a US soldier is out of the question.
I was Matayom 3 boy once and admit to having a vague idea of what faculties there were at Thai universities. The teacher could have helped the student by clarifying that s/he can major in English at a faculty of arts or humanities and that linguistics is a department within these faculties in Thailand. That's much more guidance-like than simply telling the student to correct his/her answers. I guess the teacher had a lot of forms to go over but didn't have enough time.
The story inspired a 10-minute heart-warming video of Thais who have joined the ranks of the United States Armed Forces by a YouTube channel called Ja-O America Around the World. Thai-born American soldiers all encourage Thai kids to dream big and work hard for it. One of them proudly proclaimed that she was born a farmer's daughter in Phetchabun and had been a US soldier for two years now while wearing the Thai national flag over her shoulders like a shawl, in the said video.
At the risk of sounding preachy, teachers shouldn't forget that part of their job is nurturing students to help them realise their potential. Or at least be encouraging. Invalidating or questioning a student's dream out of your own ignorance or close-mindedness is very unbecoming of a teacher. That's like you're telling someone is wrong about something you yourself know nothing about.
What if a student says that s/he wants to be a YouTuber, an Instagram influencer, a streamer or a Thai who professionally writes in English? Should a teacher tell the student to change her/his mind because there's no specific faculty for it or the teacher doesn't understand how these professions work or how to achieve them?
Kids today dream big and dream differently. Teachers need to catch up to them.