Q: My son and I are having what is turning into a big argument. He wants to quit school and spend his time farming with his father. He says he is not learning anything in school that will help him become a better farmer. I want him to stick it out for another year, graduate with his friends and think about some kind of post-secondary education. But my boy is gradually wearing me down. I might lose this one. Do you have any suggestions?
A: To some extent your son is right. We have a general education in this county, one in which all students, be they rural or urban, have to master similar skills to graduate.
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Our schools are not directed toward any one particular vocation, be that farming or office management. Their intent is to ensure that all young people have equal opportunities, that all of them can enter post-secondary studies and compete fairly with each other. Don’t forget, not too long ago kids from some of our country schools were not given the same educational opportunities that their friends who attended larger schools had. At times, the country kids were at a distinct disadvantage. I think that most educators are now proud of the success in making sure that kids from the country are graduating with equal skills to those that city students have.
If you are determined to encourage your son to finish his high school education, and that is a reasonable goal, I suggest that you take him to talk to either the principal or the guidance counsellor and work with them to develop a specific education program that will highlight those courses that could help on the farm. The more that the school officials understand how important your son’s goal is to him, the more likely they will be able to help him.
Today’s farmer needs computer skills, office management, some insight into the biological sciences, and even the ability to communicate effectively.
I understand that as his mom, your goal is to make sure he has all of the opportunities he can have available to him when he finishes high school. You would like him to go to college. But his goal is to farm. Perhaps one day he will understand that post-secondary studies in agriculture will give him some tools to use on the farm. Until that day, you are going to have fewer arguments with your boy if you acknowledge his goal and, with the help of the school, do what you can to help him achieve it.
The more you encourage your son to succeed on the farm, the more likely it is that he will master his own intellectual abilities, in whatever way that works for him. That, in the final reckoning, is what makes a parent successful.
Jacklin Andrews is a family counsellor from Saskatchewan who has taught social work at two universities. Mail correspondence in care of Western Producer, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or e-mail jandrews@producer.com.
