A day in the life?

by

I was one of the fortunate one at school, as I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up. Most people go through school not knowing (nor caring I suspect) how they'll earn a crust when they finally leave the warm bosom of academia. My daughter (currently six) certainly comes home with at least one new intended vocation a week.

Of no use at all were the 'career advisors' at school. (I use the BBC-esque quotes there on purpose.) They are teachers and have no more of an idea what it's like to be a pilot or fisherman or a road sweeper than I do.

What I think would help kids choose is a description of three things;

Firstly, how much effort is involved in getting trained up to perform said job.

Secondly, what is involved in a typical day of actually doing the job in question.

Thirdly (and I appreciate that the order may differ for some people), how much does it pay.

The third point also needs to be back filled with a decent description of how much things actually cost. There's no point in telling a child that a job pays 10k a year without telling them that living costs will take up 9.5k and they can't actually spend all their money on ponies and hair cuts.

As an aside, a few years ago I knew a chap who appeared to worldly wise, was a bit of a 'lad' and a 'geezer' in his early twenties who was shocked to learn that you actually had to pay for water. And not the bottled kind either. He was blissfully unaware that water companies expected you to pay for piping water into your house. (I didn't have the heart to explain that they also pay to take the dirty stuff away.)

Now, where was I going with this....?

Ah yes I remember now. I reckon (if it doesn't already exist, and by virtue of the fact that I'm mentioning here, it almost certainly does) a website which contains 'a day in the life' type diaries of people going about their job would be cool for kids at school to read. Actually, I think I'd find it interesting to see what some people get up to to earn their money too :-)

Waffle about: