Talented 15-year-old is struggling to choose between arts and sciences
My 15-year-old daughter has to choose in the next month or so what A-levels to take. She has no real preference for the arts or sciences, as she is good at both. She has an A-level in Japanese, plus GCSEs in Japanese, Latin and statistics and is studying for nine more this year. She is bilingual, good at maths, and likes both arts and science subjects. She has good communication and empathy skills.
There seems so little advice on how to make this difficult choice. Her teachers know she’s really organised so aren’t too concerned. She has started exploring some personality/careers tests online.
What can you and your readers recommend? I hated having to choose myself as I enjoyed both sciences and arts. I wish the exam system would be changed to allow this crucial decision to be made a few years later, as it is in other countries.
Jeremy says
You’ve obviously got an extremely talented and disciplined daughter and I can quite understand your frustration at her having to make what seems to be a premature and life-defining decision. At her age, no one should be expected to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. And even if they think they do, they shouldn’t be expected to get it right. I’m pretty sure, however, that you can be comforted by the fact that her teachers seem not too concerned. It may not be quite as crucial a time as you fear.
But, at the risk of infuriating 50% of readers, let me cautiously suggest that, if your daughter has to favour either an arts route or a sciences route and is comfortable and competent in both, she’s more likely to regret having failed to pursue a “hard” subject – such as maths or one of the sciences – than a “softer” subject.
She’s clearly good at languages and is gifted with good empathy and communication skills. These will serve her well whatever she finally chooses to do with her life. But if there’s a possibility – and it only has to be a possibility – that a degree in the sciences and a professional “scientific” career eventually beckon, then she’ll certainly be grateful that she didn’t abandon them at the age of 15.
Readers say
• The International Baccalaureate is worth serious consideration if she isn’t particularly focused on either arts or sciences, because she would achieve some breadth and depth across a range of both. Look, too, at the Russell Group’s Informed Choices guide to post-16 options. RobKindon
• Go with what she enjoys the most. This could be based on fairly arbitrary factors … favourite teacher, which friends will be in the same class. It is far more important that she enjoys learning. Career paths tend to be fluid these days so its impossible and inadvisable to be too entrenched this early in her life. If she has no burning ambition to be, say, a vet then go with the flow and see where it leads. fizzdarling
• Choosing A-levels is effectively a choice of university subject – or at least the broad field of study. Without hesitation I recommend doing a maths A-level. There are very few career paths these days where good maths qualifications are not an asset. Simon1000
I’m really a creative person trapped in finance job that makes me want to scream
I fell into working in finance a long time ago and never really progressed, but now I have been offered paid training by my employer to become a qualified accountant. However, I am a creative person with strength in writing imaginatively.
Staying in finance makes me want to scream. I would love to become an English teacher or a primary school teacher, but I now have a family to support so it would be very difficult to take a year out to do teacher training.
I am trapped and angry at myself for not finding opportunities earlier when it would have been so much easier (I’m now 37). Has anyone else been in this situation and found a way out?
Jeremy says
Being angry with yourself is utterly pointless and dangerously counterproductive. You are where you are; there’s no going back and at only 37, you should have a good 30 years of working life ahead of you. So don’t burn up your energies in self-recrimination and regret, try to put them to positive use. I know that’s what you think you’re doing but you’re allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by pessimism. If things were indeed as bleak as you paint them, your sense of despair might be justified – but they don’t have to be.
First, although you hate finance, you’re fortunate to have been offered paid training to become a qualified accountant. You’d be very unwise to turn this opening down. Not only might you find the training itself more interesting that you imagine – and almost certainly more interesting than the routine work you find so soul-destroying – but the qualification, once acquired, could well open up a much wider range of challenges and opportunities than you’ve been used to.
I’m not trying to persuade you that, by undertaking this training, your feelings about finance will be miraculously transformed. But I do believe there’s a real chance that if you embark on this course of action with an open mind you could achieve a solid and tolerable basis from which to support your family, while at the same time exploring other possibilities. I don’t mean alternatives: I suspect you’re right that starting from scratch to acquire a teaching or any other professional qualification is out of reach. I mean additional possibilities.
You say you have strength in imaginative writing. History is full of would-be writers who made it by writing early in the morning, at nights and at weekends – while still working full-time at mundane jobs to support their families. If you do indeed have this ability, you should be using it.
So if you have a particular interest or expertise, write about it. Start a blog. Start a blog about why working in finance makes you want to scream. Write stories for your family and friends. Just write … and write … and write. Even if it comes to little, the very fact of doing it will give you a new perspective on your life. And you never know …
Readers say
• If you’re able to write and also analyse numbers there are loads of good roles analysing and writing about different industries and the finance that surround them. Your ability to write well and your proven analytical ability could be a good fit for this and it shouldn’t see your pay fall too far. PeteinSQ
• There are some lucky people who do a job they enjoy and then there’s the rest of us who simply work to live. As a qualified accountant you’d have a good job with a good salary and prospects. Teaching is not the bed of roses it can seem.
Indulge your creativity in your spare time. In your working hours focus on your job and making money for your family and your future. Parr3
• The creative industries film/media/TV/publishing all need accountants to do their books, run projects, and produce their work. Schools also need these skills. Why not complete your training with this employer and look to specialise in the creative world? VSLVSL
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or reply personally.
