Sam’s Future Profession

Sam’s school administered an “ACT” test this year to the eighth graders. I’m still unsure of exactly what it is…I can only assume though that it is not your traditional “ACT”.
The test was designed to test his knowledge in various subjects as well as his interests, likes and dislikes. Then the results are analyzed and given back to the kids with recommendations for future careers and professions. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this test, honestly. I mean, he’s 13 years old…he isn’t even really who he’s going to be yet. Or is he??
His results were not much of a surprise to us…and they won’t be to you either. The disappointment was his reading score. Shamefully, somehow, he scored better than only 76% of the eighth graders in Ohio. His results indicated that he does not do very well figuring out context clues…oh the horror…the utter shame…that a child of mine would score low in READING!!! How did this happen? Oh wait. I know how it happened…the only reading that turd does is subtitles on video games. Sigh. Needless to say, I told him he is going to be doing more reading in the future. The only way to get better at reading is to just keep reading.
Math and Science were a different matter altogether. Big surprise there too, eh? Samuel scored better than 100% of the eighth grade students in Ohio in both math and science. Holy Crap…a perfect score on both of them. Which is kinda funny, because right now, he is not really enjoying either of those subjects at school. He blames the teachers for his apathy and I tend to believe him. He’s never disliked math and science before. Anyhoo…
The test recommendations for Sam’s future:
Engineer (Rocket Scientist) – His response to this one was an emphatic no. He says rocket scientists have a bad rap for being nerds and he wants no part of it. We are still working on this one…any examples of not nerdy rocket scientists would be appreciated.
Natural Scientist/Astronomer – He is somewhat open to this idea. Why this one doesn’t strike his nerd chord is beyond me, but ok.
Video Game Developer – My only response to this one…how did he do that? He rigged the results or his answers. He is wholly in favor of this one. Right up his alley.
Interior Designer – I find this result terribly amusing, given the eternal state of his bedroom. He briefly considered this. Right up until lunch time when his friends told him that men who make a career in interior design are predominately gay. That put the kaputz to that one.
There probably were other suggestions…those were the four he shared with me. In the end, he was unimpressed by them all. His strongest response to the whole ordeal was envy. One of his friends got the result Food Critic. I laughed at him when he told me this and questioned, Would you want to be a food critic? Really?
To which he responded in his driest tone of voice: Eat for a living? And get paid money for it? Uuuummm…YES!
That’s my boy.
I love you all!