A Boy Tried to Kill my FBI Dream
How a highly competitive environment restricted my passion

Everyone passed their homework forward and Mrs. Drake put it in her IN box. “You’re at the beginning of high school, so it’s time to settle on something you want to be. This week’s focus is life goals and careers. I’ll go around the room and you can stand up and share your future profession.”
Sally said, “I’d like to design software.”
Everybody nodded.
“Lawyer,” Dave said.
“Wow, that’s a great choice. Lawyers do earn a lot of money,” Mrs. Drake commented. Other students responded engineer, doctor, etc.
Ever since the age of four when I learned that my grandfather was an administrative officer, I knew I wanted to be just like him. So when my turn came up, I stood up slowly and nearly whispered my answer. “An FBI officer.” Sally looked at me with surprise and others were laughing.
Frank exclaimed, “YOU want be in the FBI… I mean, are you even strong enough?” Ignoring those comments, I quickly sat down and Mrs. Drake went on to the other students, disregarding their remarks.
Doctor, Engineer, Lawyer
In my school community, we live under certain pressures that shape our future decisions. The mentality is that students should strive for supposedly “better” jobs that pay more. So the question is, Why do we let children explore career options when they are young but begin to restrict the options when they enter high school? Success by definition, according to many parents is these three words: Doctor, Engineer, or Lawyer. Parents plant the seed of success as money in many students’ minds. As a result, Children are then more interested in taking those jobs. Instead parents should let their children explore and experience career options, which results in developing a hobby. Later, parents can help grow their children’s hobbies by enrolling them into classes or groups so that kids can explore their career interests. Not only that, but parents should support their child’s decisions and help them pursue it in the future.
Why do we let children explore career options when they are young but begin to restrict the options when they enter high school?
Just recently, a Junior in my school committed suicide in the belief that she could never be successful due to a grade. After this heart-breaking incident, the only thing we received was a wristband that provided a suicide prevention number. The staff should have been focusing on the real problem of pressure. Not only do people start to take unimaginable measures, but they also feel excluded by their classmates. When someone in my science class doesn’t get an A, they are excluded. This school’s nature causes students to think badly about themselves. Let’s say a top-ranked volleyball player gets a D on a quiz and everybody stops talking to him because he is “dumb.” He feels out of place and forces himself to quit the team, instead of becoming a great athlete. He will hate his job, but he could have been happier doing something he likes.
All Nurses are Women

When Frank commented on my career goal, it made me feel discouraged and forced me to rethink my future. Should I be in the FBI? Am I truly strong enough to succeed? When Frank was a child he learned about careers on flashcards. He noticed that all firefighters were men and all nurses were women. And from that point on, when he learned that careers were separated by genders, his perspective was based on jobs “belonging” to a specific gender. Kids come in contact with many outside materials with very little gender diversity. For example, books usually display men as the hero, which forms an idea of what girls are capable. Not only books, but movies, TV, and media can shape a girl’s thoughts about herself. They should make more girl protagonists capable of more things, so that they know that a boy’s “job” can also be a girl’s job.
Should I be in the FBI? Am I truly strong enough to succeed?
Frank’s remarks did disappoint me because I wasn’t even in the field yet, and people were already criticizing my judgments. However, I learned that people are going to say what they want to say. I need to know that there is no one to judge you and your decisions but yourself.
It is more beneficial that students do work that involves their passion, whether playing in an orchestra or being a neurosurgeon. What truly matters is that people pick something that drives them forward and keeps them happy. And don’t absorb gender biased ideas, because woman can do what men can do. As for me, I am taking this experience to learn and become more confident about my career. And as for Frank, well, I told him that boys can only be trash collectors.

