Manchild,
Just as Scuderia_Russ' parents, my parents, though very strict, gave me plenty of lattitude. One day, while I was still in high school, I told them that I had decided what to do in life. As they listened, looking at them, I knew that they were against it. Why? Because this profession did not require a university degree - just a simple college diploma. For the next two years, they had spent an infinate number of hours begging me not to go that way. I didn't listen. Not because I wanted to rebel - it was because I thought that I was the smartest person in the world. I thought that they had no idea what they were talking about. So, all the time I had spent studying while in high school was the time I wasted (or, so I thought), and so were the marks followed (again, so I thought).
Then came a reality check. I had finished the program, but I knew that I had made a mistake well before it was over. Why? Because I chose a profession that too many jobless candidated. And since the industry took turn for the worse, those who had jobs, had all of a sudden found themselves waiting in line at the unemployment centre (er, employment centre, sorry!).
Luckly for me, my dad had helped me get a job, which, though ---*y, paid well. Actually the pay is enough to make most university graduates green with envy. Right now, I'm still in my early 20's and I have the opportunity to see and do things most people can't even dream about. While my high school friends with their university degrees take busses to their barely-above-the-minimum-wage jobs, I park my ass in a luxury sedan and drive myself to work.
And you know what...I would
gladly give all that up to go back for a degree in engineering. Why? Because being ambitious, I know that I won't be happy with the position I currently have (from which it is next to impossible to advance). Also, I don't like that I have surrounded myself with people who find any subject other than hockey and fantasy football a stretch of their mental and intellectual resources...people who, while some of the most sincere and down-to-earth, find it impossibe to go 2 sentences without using the word "---" (or various forms of it). That is why I had already made a decision to return to school. So, I guess all those hours I had spend studying while in high school were not a waste after all
So, in closing, manchild, will I force my kid into karting? Absolutely! Will I force him to stay if he doesn't like it? NO! Career choice will be his (or hers), however, it will have to be the one that opens lots of doors.
I hope I didn't offend anybody with my views.
)