Conversations with my son (1)

Or not, as the case might be.

Which 15-year-old son wants to talk to his mum?

Not mine. Takes some getting used to. But I live in hope that one day he would find talking to me less daunting.

Careers.

Many people who have known him from primary school have been very impressed by his prowess at Maths and sciences. And English. And French. And Latin ....

What to do in his future, and which subjects to choose for his Pre-Us (not A Levels) has been under a lot of discussion.

Over Christmas, it was 'classics'.

But we have not found a university where he could do both Classics as well as Maths, except at St Andrews (Scotland) and other advice has been: stick to Oxbridge.

Three weeks down the road and another interview with a careers adviser, it could possibly be Physics and Philosophy. Unless he could find a place to do Maths and Philosophy.

More interestingly, it transpired that he was told that he could consider being a dentist, upon which information I nearly choked. As I had wanted very much to be a dentist, but then thought better of it. Thank God for that!

Philosophy was an untouchable subject amongst Christian students when I was at university. It was supposed to steer us away from our faith.

Well, I studied it for three years as a major student, asked many questions about my faith and, well, I am still a Christian.

Had I remembered to turn over my exam paper on Buddhistic Philosophy I would have sailed into the Philosophy Honours class and my career trajectory would have been rather different.

And now my son is contemplating studying Philosophy. How intriguing!