Ever since 2nd grade I knew I was going to be an Electrical Engineer. That's what I'm studying to be in college right now. That ambition, which was so strong throughout my entire elementary through high school career, has waned though. I'm beginning to doubt that's what I really want to do. I love and designing electronics and such, but there are a lot of obstacles I need to overcome and I'm doubting whether or not I can actually do it.
So i don't really know anymore what I want to do :(
I always wanted to be a palaeonthologist (do you spell it that way in English?) when I was little. But after I became 10 or 12 maybe, that kinda went under. From then on until about 10th or 11th grade (16-17 years old by then), I didn't really think about what I wanted to do. From then on, I had the very clear vision in mind that I wanted to become a (games-)programmer, and here I am today, having my Computer Science degree :)
Some people still don't know what to do after high school though..
When I was 14-15 I wanted to work with computers, either an IT technician or a software programmer; something along those lines. I think that was fairly reasonable haha
its quite a challenge to make the students interested in the essays especially in english, as they sometimes think 'its bothersome' but hey, at least those essays about their future will make them think a little about what they are gonna do after graduated.
unlike my highschool, they didnt have it when i was there. im in Indonesian btw
At that stage in my life I really had no clue what I was going to do in my life, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. High school is really where I figured out that math and science were my passion and I decided I wanted to go into the engineering field.
@spandexninja from my experience, it's just not true. I now work with college students, and we sometimes do Skype exchange with students in America learning Japanese. Their Japanese, after only one year of learning, is often better comparably to my students' English after many more years of study. But of course, there are exceptions, and some of my college kids are great speakers.
Hey :D I enjoyed your video! My dream job is to teach English in Japan, but there are a few things I'm worried about. 1) the living in Japan confuses me with teaching education. I dunno about that because my sisters husband is from England but he was able to live in the US because he was married to my sister and got a visa, but if I tought in Japan (I'm 18 and if I go through with getting an English degree...) what about Japanese citizenship? 2) there are no Universities with Japanese learning
but i mean, i love my career, i'm studying japanese also in my faculty and i hope to be able someday to teach english in japan. So, i'm not an expert, but i would suggest that you motivate your students to try harder,, thanks for the videos it's really a help for us teacher that want to go to other countries in order to do our profession :)
replying to your video, i'm 19 years old by now, turning 20 in july, and i'm on 3rd semester in the career of language teaching here in mexico, but at first i wanted to take the career of industrial desing , maybe i'll study abroad sometime in the future...., anyway, sometimes even if you know what do you want to be in the future, things not always turn to be what we hoped they'd be
I've been teaching small groups of jr. high and elementary students for several at a conversation school for years, but will soon start teaching classes of 40 as an ALT.
Any tips on class management for keeping everyone engaged and practicing their speaking?
@leeanthony55 I hope to start an ESL section devoted to teaching ideas and sharing lessons/advice over at JapanJuku(dot)com, so check out the site and join the forums for updates
I'm 18 years old and took Japanese all 4 years in High School. I want to teach in Japan, but I am not too confident on my spelling since I'm dyslexic. I don't want that to stop my so I will buy 20 dictionaries if I have to and use them when I show my students spelling. lol I've wanted to go to Japan forever but at 14 I kept changing my mind I had no idea I just loved learning Japanese!
If you graduate and get your degree, then there is no "English" test to be a JET. (At least not in America - I've heard that there may be a grammar test for UK applicants)
Once there, I think you could get by with help from your JTEs - writing on the board slowly and watching for mistakes. Just avoid games like Hangman. :)
Lol thank you that makes me feel a lot better! Right now I'm trying to find a penpal in Japan no luck so far but I would like to practice more. Thank you for posting your videos they inspire me like you couldn't believe!
When I was around 14 I wanted to be a journalist. Writing a column about music for the Seattle Times. So now I do sound design for games. That's connected right?
At 20 years old and half way through university I still didn't know for certain what I wanted to do and in my 4 years I've changed my major 4 times. But now I'm back into history with a minor in English and I'm dedicated to be a high school teacher, which is what I entered university to do. It just took a lot of experimentation with different areas to finally figure out that this is what I really want to do.
When I was 15 I wasn't set on anything. I entertained the idea of several different professions such as geneticist, painter, writer, etc. I've graduated already and am still trying to decide on what to do. lol. I've been leaning towards becoming a teacher though, so we'll see how that goes. :P
Btw, good videos! They provide some good insight to overseas teaching.
Astrophysicist/spaceman when I was like really young. This lasted until around 9th or 10th grade when I realised that I didn't have enough passion for math to go into this line of work. Rather I just tolerated it.
For most of high school I wanted to be a Jazz performer. Entered some competitinos, did fairly well, but in the end performance is not the most stable lifestyle.
These days, as a university student I aspire to either become an Investment Banker or an Economist.
When I was 15, I wanted to be a lawyer or a vet. But when I got into high school, I wanted to be a musician, a chef, or a teacher. But now that I'm in college, at first I wanted to be a director. Then I switched to an English teacher. But now, I want to be a director again. I've changed my mind a lot during those years.
When I was 15 my dreams changed about every other month (mostly between being a teacher, a pilot, or some career with the military). Now that I'm in college I'm pretty settled on being an English teacher, but my major is business and can't change it because of my scholarships. So I have a second degree planned out for after graduation. But who knows? My dreams might change again by then.
I always wanted to be an artist. Well I'm 27 and life has bumps and I still want to be an artist. Just have to find a way to make that still a big possibility....
kind of a late reply but I thought I'd toss something in. I always had dreams, rather unrealistic for the most part though... I never knew what I really wanted to do and to some extent still don't at age 23. I'll get my degree this winter sometime and plan to apply for the Jet Programme and see where that takes me.
I wanted to be vet, but when I did work experience as a vet's assistant and a guinea pig died... the whole vet thing went out the window. Then from about 15, I specialised in physics as I wanted to work in weaponary engineering, but 9/11 caused some complications (long story!). Then I changed to language majors and decided I would like to teach in Japan at 16, when I had my first two Japanese nii-san come to live with me. About seven years have passed and I will be arriving later this month!
17 and have wanted to be a musician since i was about 13 but LOL that's never going to happen. Now I'm studieng japanese and am going to do it in college but I don't know what kind of "job" I could do with that : S
I am 13. Right now I want to be a surgeon. I doubt that in the next few years my choice will change. Before I wanted to become a surgeon, my choice for a couple of years had been a lawyer.
umm when i was 14 i wanted to be a cartoonist but as i got into my older teens choosing a goal became a bit more difficult because as you get older you start thinking a bit more realistic like is there competition in this career and the classes you will need to take to accomplish this goal and now i want to do something with traveling which is way different from a cartoonist haha
When i was 14 i wanted to become a graphic artist and work for a magazine, how quickly did that change two years later. i decided to join the military at the age of 18 and now 4 years later I decided its time for a change, im going to start my english teacher course at a local uni and get my bachelors degree to become an ALT in japan eventually, thats my newfound goal :) eventhough im Dutch im very proficient at the english language as I hopefully demonstrate in this post :) awesome vids Jason
I didn't know what i wanted to be when i was 14. Even when i graduted High school and went to university i was still confused.. I didn't know until the end of first year going into second year of university. my dreams than were the same as those kids.. i thought i would become a figure skater..obviously that didn't happen lol.
When I was a middle school student I did not know what career I wanted to get into, but when I imagined myself to get into something into games.Now that I am in High School, I am in the Computer Maintenance career.
When I was fourteen? I didn't know what I would want to do, of course by then I was in high school. But when I was in Junior high, I was 12? Anyways-- I thought I'd become a construction worker, welder or tattoo artist. I'm now 18 and I'm aspiring to actually become an ELS teacher.
I don't think it was until 7th grade when I first got an idea of what I wanted to do for a living, so I was about 12 or 13... But even then, it wasn't necessarily the most realistic of ideas (creating video games), and I don't think many of my peers had any real idea of what they wanted to do until some time during High School, or even college.
When I was 14-15 I never really put any thought into that sort of stuff, but I stuck with science subjects because I found them more interesting. My fiancé wanted to do animation and still does, and is doing it in college now. I guess some people just know what they want to do and others need a bit more inspiration! I still dont know what I want to do, and im 22! :D
Hi Jason. I don't think this is a Japanese thing. I often work with students around 12-15 in the UK. I think a lot of them haven't seriously considered their future career. For many of them, the thought of a career seems so far away. I'd even argue that a lot of people don't know by the time they leave high school. I know that of the people that left high school with me, more than 50% of them dropped out of their college courses.
Thanks for the videos Jason, I look forward to every one.
When I was in elementary school I wanted to be a pro hockey player. Once reality set in around middle school, I really had no idea what I wanted to be, and didn't really think about it much. It wasn't until late high school/early college that I really began to find what's right for me.
Oh I did know what I wanted to become since I was 14yo... but due to a youthful ignorance I failed in actively preparing myself despite having years of time and thus failed the job test when I was 22.
When I entered university, by going to Japan, another dream arose but these days I'm seeing it smashed, again by my own stupidity.
In Germany you get pretty much prepeared in school concerning your skills and suitable jobs. We need to do internships. I tried a lot but it was always the job as a teacher in which I fit in perfectly.
I had learned spanish in school for 3 years. You told that your students have learned english for 3 years, too. So I think my spanish was as good as their english is now!
I think your students do know what they want to be, they just can´t express theirselves very well.
Good question... when people asked me @ that age I always said law b/c I did... & still do have a healthy interest in criminal & enviromental law. But I knew it wasn't going to be my career. I knew I was going to minor in music b/c it's my love.. But even now @ 29 I have no idea of what I really want to do. I have an AA in lib. arts to have a degree & I like journalism but I love music & travel.. so how to mesh both? I think you can't get a quality answer to your question until hs/college.
As someone who has been learning Japanese for two years, and I would say even though I *know* more than what your kids have written, I too would have trouble writing any more than what they had written with that prompt, especially if I wasn't able to take it home and complete it in my own time. It can be hard.
I knew that I wanted to travel, I didn't know how. I knew that I wanted to explore and learn for the rest of my life, though I didn't know how I would accomplish that either. I also knew that I wanted to do something that allowed me to be creative, but again I didn't know how that would be accomplished. Sorry if that's not helpful.
I too always knew I wanted to travel, and I even briefly entertained the idea of joining the Navy. But I'm glad I finally got the opportunity to live abroad with JET.
I never had really flighty aspirations when I was young. I remember that I wanted to be a teacher in grammar school, then it moved into nursing in high school, and then moved back to teaching now that I'm in university.
When I was younger I wanted to be a soccer player also... I am 19 now in College and am aware that that dream is fading. Soccer is a huge part of my life, I plan on joining the team next year though, while I am working on a degree not related to sports in any way...
Rarely comment on youtube, but enjoy your videos very much Jason, I had to lol
thanks for the comment. I think the cool thing about sports is how active you can remain in the sport even if you don't become a Pro. here in Shimane we have JET teams in soccer, rugby, frisbee, and there are tons of other sports you can participate in like tennis, kendo, etc, etc.
I don't think I had a good idea what I wanted to do with my life until my first year of college. I know I wanted to go to Japan at that age, but I had no idea what I waned to do when i get there. I want to try out Blokus. I have seen it in some of your other videos and it seems easy to learn but fun to play.
I'm in grade 10, going into grade 11 in Canada, and I do have a pretty good idea at what I want to do it. Since I've got to high school it's changed a bit but now it finally come to a halt and I'm pretty sure. At first I wanted to be journalist, then manga artist, but after a while I kind of realized what I like to do and how I could apply that to a job. I've been taking Japanese for 2 years now. I take 3 classes a week. A beginners,intermediate
, and a exchange program language course since I'm going to Japan for a month in July of 2009. So I really enjoying learning Japanese and teaching others about it's culture. But aside from learning Japanese/Japanese culture, I like making friends in my high school with foreigners because I like learning about there culture and I like it when I get to teach them English and help them. So my dream is to be a English Teacher in Japan.
Now onto my question. I've decided that I would like to
Major in Japanese in college and get a minor in visual arts. I was wondering if this would be a good plan, because I would like to apply for JET after university? Also you said what your salary is with JET but how much is left over after you pay rent, pension, etc. Like how much do you have left for food and extra money *like to do things , example: go to the movies or buy things like magazines etc*? The last question I have is can you still teach and stay in Japan after 5 years, or no?
If you look at my playlist on being a JET, there is a vlog about money and another where I talk about extra money - for most JETs, the salary is more than adequate to have fun and spending money while living here.
You can certainly stay in Japan after leaving JET - you just have to get a diff job.
I remember taking Spanish in middle school and we had the same type of assignments. I probably wrote the same kind of answers that your students did. Don't be disappointed...from my experience, Japanese students can speak much better English than American kids speak any other language (as a whole)
Jason--great, thoughtful vid. My response was too long to post, so I wrote you an e-mail. You must get thousands of e-mails, though. Very interesting thoughts!
When I was in junior high, my dream was to become like Indiana Jones (well archaeologist). However, when I entered high school I really got into Japanese culture so I decided to get pursue a carreer in Japanese so I got a master in Japanese studies and a bachelor in economics (just to make sure I can find a job, since in Belgium there are not many opportunities to work at a Japanese company). Now I work in Japan as a graphic designer :p so my dream came true ^^
i knew for the longest time i wanted to do something in business or computers. I even had a passion for teaching. Now that i am 26 i am in the coporate business world, and i sorta work with computers partime and still my love, and I am hoping to teach with the JET programme next year. So its funny b/c i never thought about it, but I guess i'm on track for what i really wanted to do. great question Jason!
I think it is hard at that age to even have a clue, I sure didn't. Think about this. When I was 14 the internet was just catching on, Napster just came out, and everything online seemed new. Now, it is possible to work for countless companies based solely on the net. things change and we change with them.....
On another note, the marvel poster behind you in the video is mesmerizing and with such coolness abound it is hard to pay attention to your great videos ;) Keep on Vloggin'
That would be archaeology for me when i was 15 or so. The reason was the existence of many sites in the nearby hills (don't get me wrong..nothing serious ever came up, just pieces of pottery...but as kids, we always hoped that we might discover "smthng" cool eventually...never did though :P )
That was around 95-97. But the computers era won me, so now i am a computer science graduate.
I wanted to try the JET .You make it look rly interesting with your vlogs :) but greece rarely gets in the list
I'm 17, my dream is to go to college and get 2 degrees through a double major in Japanese and (Either Engineering or Economics) after wards I plan to move to Japan, and start a life there, and maybe even start a family there ha ha. I know I'm still young and that many youth say they want to go. But what separates them is those that loaf around going about their daily lives, and those that make self sacrifices to get themselves there.
I wanted to be a musician and a writer. I paid my way through undergrad as a musician and I paid most of my way through graduate school as a freelance writer, so I guess I'm doing pretty well. I went to music school for a little while and hated it and now I'm finishing my MFA in Creative Writing.
I'm starting University next year and i'm still not completly sure what i want my career to be. I'm starting and Under-grad in commerce but i'm thinking i may end up switching to History because that what i think i'm really interested in. Regardless of what my degree is, at this point i am hoping to do somehting similar to you in Japan for a while at least, i also want to travel extensivley :)
I didn't really decide what I wanted to do, realistically, until ... probably mid college. I had a "realistic" idea in high school, but it drastically changed as soon as I got into college.
when I was younger I wanted to be a DJ too, as in the person who works at a radio station and plays the music and chats on-air. It's still something I'd like to do.
Definitly wanted to be a rockstar at 14... I think at that age.. any semblance of a "normal" job is not exciting or attractive.. thus the abundance of the more exciting(especially to boys), and difficult to attain, career choices
Oh ho! San Diego Padres banner in the background! Nice!
When I was in Jr. High I took spanish and I remember tests and written responses being difficult. Are the language lessons extremely challenging compared to U.S. schools?
Thanks for all of your Vlogs! Very informative! I'm only a couple of years younger than you and I'm seriously contemplating applying to the Jet Programme this fall.
I don't think the English classes my kids have in Jr high are that tough - but it is a lot of memorizing and writing, so it could be tough for certain students.
It's a difficult question to ask, especially to 14-15 year olds. They are constantly changing their hobbies and things they like, so it's hard to come to a conclusion. It's like my grandmother asking me how many kids I want to have in the future. Heh.
When I was 14, I had a clue...as to which classes would be best if I were going for a certain path in the future....but in reality, I didn't really know what I wanted to do/be. There are people who go through college not really knowing what they want to do, so I don't think it's strange in this generation to not know what you want to be when you're 14:)
I wanted to be a filmmaker and or an architect....I ended up as an electrician and now teach english in Japan... heh go figure. Most of my student are saying they want to be a doctor or a pro athlete
this time of year, as graduation approaches, it would be interesting to work at a High School and see what the students are planning on doing with the next step of their lives.
Hey man, when I was 14 I wanted to be a Power Ranger, yeah weird. Well not a real Power Ranger but the person that played one on tv, yeah still wierd, but it wasn't until high school that I really realized or even thought of what it is I really wanted to do for a career. Even now I don't know for sure. You should ask your student who the want to be. Me peronally I would like to be someone like you (Jason), or tokyocooney, or perhaps a sumo wrestler like asashoryu or Ama, I mean Harumafuji.
I wanted to work with computers when I was 14-15. I wasn't sure exactly what, but I had a passion for computers. I worked on that for a few years and gave up for various reasons. Partially because all the computer people I worked with were so damn cynical. But that's another topic.
Then again, when I was that age I was required to take French in school, and coming up with even a couple sentences would have been a huge struggle for me. I'm not really surprised at the answers they gave.
When I was 15 I didn't really think about what I wanted to do, but I did back then and still do have a passion for video games, so thats what I'm trying for. aftger i get my AA from the comunity college I will start a Game design program and hopfully have a career in the game industry.
Well I guess it's a worthwhile assignment in the sense that maybe it got one or two of the kids thinking about what they may want to do.
many of my Japanese kids tend to get very serious when I ask them a question - any question - like their answer is gonna be recorded and they'll be held accountable for it forever. What flavor of ice cream do you like? (this can take over a minute to get a response) "Banirra" - ahh then you can never eat chocolate again! :P
Haha, well, from my very limited experience being amongst the Japanese, I have definitely noticed they don't take many things lightly. They are a very calculated and analytical culture (reasons I love it) so not much room for lightheartedness.
I'm 27 now, but when I was 15, my high school algebra teacher had all of his students write a letter to ourselves in ten years. We did this and from what I remember, everyone had grandiose plans. I received my letter 2 years ago and I had actually done about half of the things I wanted to do. My dream then was to become an air force pilot and/or engineer. Well, I have my engineering degree, but have found a new passion for teaching. Such is life, never a regret!
I think that question is more difficult in respect to Japanese culture. All my friends in third year university right now are all getting 4 hours of sleep a night, scrambling to go to 4 interviews a day, to get a shot at getting a job with ANY company that will hire, re-train, and mold them as to how they see fit.
Very different than the North American standards of "do what makes you happy."
Going to get some work done = making a YT vid?! Ur so addicted Jason! haha
14 or 15 year olds typically don't have a good idea of what they want out of life yet, it's part of being a teenager. I remember I was just as confused as any other teenager at that age.
To continue my long rant: So I guess I'm trying to say I know pretty much what I want to do, but it's not totally definite. I know that's the case with many of my friends, and some have just a general idea. Say, one person just wants to travel, or one just wants to do something with chemistry and mathematics, what they're not sure. In middle school i wanted to be an architect I think. I just wanted to make buildings and stuff and I really didn't understand the job. Your kids just need time...
I'm currently 17 and in my list year of high school before Uni/College and I pretty much know what I want to do. I'm really good in math, i'm in Calculus now, so I'm going to major in engineering. But I'm also really good at languages and have a great interest in them so i'm considering a double major, which will be ROUGH. My true passion is in language, but the money is in engineering... I do really like engineering but I always feel just average in my math class where in Spanish i'm the best.
when i was 14/15 i think i wanted to be a music producer for artists..but i eventually grew up and realized it may never happen so i decided to focus on accounting..but now that im 18, i have decided to have a profession in business in Japan..but i wanna be a JET first
Heh, I laughed when You mentioned the pilot and engineer, because that is my goal today, to become a freelancer pilot - aircraft engineer&designer. This is kind of inspired from my childhood when I wanted to be a pilot.
As for school time, I think most of students in 9th grades do not think about career, rather about spending more time with friends. I was about the same in my primary (junior high). The real life planning starts only in the last grades of high school.
When I was 14/15yrs old, I wanted to be a paediatrician. Mainly because it involved working with children and after watching things such as Casualty and ER that made me want to do something in the Medical field.
Now that I'm 21, and after a few personal experiences, I've been put off medicine and the only thing I have in mind now is to go to Japan and teach English for awhile. I am not completely sure of what I want to do in the far future, but I hope more opportunites unveil themselves.
I wanted to live in Japan since I was 12 years old due to a student teacher (not japanese) coming in and introducing Japan to the classroom. I wanted to be a doctor then but when I turned 16 I wanted to become an English teacher. Then I found out about the JET program. lol 1+1=2. Now here I am at 22 with one year left of college, majoring in Japanese and prepping my resume for JET. I teach and tutor english to highschool kids, tutor japanese, and am getting tesl cert after I take one more class.
Where are you currently going to University? I live in the US and I'm having trouble finding some good colleges with a lot of languages, most importantly Japanese.
Thank you :). Question: Does my resume sound like it would do ok during the selection process for JET? Thanks. Also how many years have you been there?
Well, I'm fourteen now, and I guess I have a basic idea of what I want to do. I want to become an illustrator/animator, and of course be a JET. Well, I know a lot of my friends know what they want to be. But in the case of writing what you want to be in a foreign language like Spanish...most of my friends would try to put what they genuinely want to be. But I also know a lot of them would take the easy route and just put something silly like, "I want to be a basketball player."
You don't need to be sad at their essays because Japanese usually don't talk about their dreams. Some even think that if they keep their dreams only in their mind, they really come true. If you know what kind of English tests they are tackling now, you know they learn a lot in 3 years from you.
To teach Japanese history/anthropology at Tokyou U. I was also really in to archeology as I was a BIG fan of Indiana Jones. ^_^ Oh yeah, I wanted to be a wife too. ;_;
I wanted to be a cartoonist then I wanted to own my own business then I wanted to be a graphic designer then I wanted to design video games, now I do nothing. But now I want to be a photographer.
I am a Japanese and went to a local Japanese school at Junior high. At that time I don't remember anything determined as to what to choose as my profession. I was only thinking about entering a topnotch university without connecting to any kind of job. Many Kids from the US seems a little more mature.
At 10, I wanted to be a cardiologist. At 15, a biologist. At 19, a forensic scientist. And what did I become at 25? A youth exchange program coordinator. Just goes to show that life can take you in pretty interesting, if unexpected, directions. ;)
I really wanted to be an architect when I was in 8th or 9th grade. It took my senior project which we did on our possible career for me to figure out it wasn't what I wanted to do.
Senior year is kind of a bad year to lose a focus. I am currently working towards a degree in International Business though, I had always been as 'good' at that as a high schooler can be. I won competitions and stuff...and as much as I knew I didn't really want to do it for a living...yet.
I could understand if I were like on the varsity tennis or football team saying that I wanted to be a football player or something. But that would just be a means to getting a degree...but to get to that point you kind of need to focus on the sport.
Of course, I don't know how viable sports would be to attaining a college degree in Japan.
I think if you're really good at sports, it can get you scholarships, etc just like in the States, but you're right - it doesn't guarantee you a job or a degree and few make it to the big leagues.
I've been legally blind all my life. This made a huge difference in my life. All through school I never knew what I wanted to do. I went to college. Still, no idea. I studied Sociology (have a B.A. in it) only because I felt like a social outcast and wanted to study societal norms. I'm 40 now. I have never had a job. Live on disablity all my life. I look back now and realize not knowing what I wanted to do in life ruined me in a lot of ways. My life will never go anywhere for it.
I am legally blind. I have a little vision, but it is so bad that legally, I am considered blind. I have to enlarge the text and get really close to the screen.
I certainly meandered a bit on my way to being a teacher - I had a lot of fun in my 20s and didn't go back to college for my degree until I was in my 30s, so it's never too late.
I wanted to be some sort of scientist but I was not exactly sure what type. I think it is fine for a kid of that age to not know what they want to be because they will have plenty of time to figure that out. Cheers
I remember in 8th grade getting a perfect score along with the cute smart girl on a paper, I was floored and didn't even try. Did you have any such students?
BTW at that age I had/have no aspirations on what I wanted out of life. :P
I'm 25 now but honestly I don't think their responses are to far off from most American 15 year olds. Yes I had an idea of what I wanted to be but there were still lots of people in my junior highschool with "lofty" goals of being professional athletes, etc. BTW thanks for the videos.
13 I knew I wanted to do something with computers. 15 or 16 I narrowed it down to web design. Then once I got into college narrowed it down even more to web development and programming.
Ever since 2nd grade I knew I was going to be an Electrical Engineer. That's what I'm studying to be in college right now. That ambition, which was so strong throughout my entire elementary through high school career, has waned though. I'm beginning to doubt that's what I really want to do. I love and designing electronics and such, but there are a lot of obstacles I need to overcome and I'm doubting whether or not I can actually do it.
So i don't really know anymore what I want to do :(
Britishdude1 1 month ago
@Britishdude1 if it's something you really enjoy doing, I would pursue it and overcome the obstacles. Best of luck!
myargonauts 1 month ago
BLOKUS KICKS ASS
deadhippie61 2 months ago
@deadhippie61 haha - agreed! I got it as an app for my iPad - great game!
myargonauts 2 months ago
I always wanted to be a palaeonthologist (do you spell it that way in English?) when I was little. But after I became 10 or 12 maybe, that kinda went under. From then on until about 10th or 11th grade (16-17 years old by then), I didn't really think about what I wanted to do. From then on, I had the very clear vision in mind that I wanted to become a (games-)programmer, and here I am today, having my Computer Science degree :)
Some people still don't know what to do after high school though..
skulduggerous 2 months ago
I am nearly 18 and know wtf i will do later.....
0jrhindo 7 months ago
I kinda had a realistic dream, it was to become a video game designer in Japan while helping to teach english in a Middle school.
MrElek79 7 months ago
When I was 14-15 I wanted to work with computers, either an IT technician or a software programmer; something along those lines. I think that was fairly reasonable haha
longorefisher 9 months ago
When I was 14. I didn't really care lol
SDFFDGSSDFGSDGFDGSFD 11 months ago
its quite a challenge to make the students interested in the essays especially in english, as they sometimes think 'its bothersome' but hey, at least those essays about their future will make them think a little about what they are gonna do after graduated.
unlike my highschool, they didnt have it when i was there. im in Indonesian btw
liquidfreedom88 1 year ago
At that stage in my life I really had no clue what I was going to do in my life, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. High school is really where I figured out that math and science were my passion and I decided I wanted to go into the engineering field.
marqmike2 1 year ago
how is this sad? an american learning japanese for 10 years wouldn't be able to write nearly as much.... trust me >.>
spandexninja 1 year ago
@spandexninja from my experience, it's just not true. I now work with college students, and we sometimes do Skype exchange with students in America learning Japanese. Their Japanese, after only one year of learning, is often better comparably to my students' English after many more years of study. But of course, there are exceptions, and some of my college kids are great speakers.
myargonauts 1 year ago
I've been teaching myself Japanese because of that problem and I'm too paranoid about if I'm writing or getting the word order right! D:
ricexpuff 1 year ago
Hey :D I enjoyed your video! My dream job is to teach English in Japan, but there are a few things I'm worried about. 1) the living in Japan confuses me with teaching education. I dunno about that because my sisters husband is from England but he was able to live in the US because he was married to my sister and got a visa, but if I tought in Japan (I'm 18 and if I go through with getting an English degree...) what about Japanese citizenship? 2) there are no Universities with Japanese learning
ricexpuff 1 year ago
but i mean, i love my career, i'm studying japanese also in my faculty and i hope to be able someday to teach english in japan. So, i'm not an expert, but i would suggest that you motivate your students to try harder,, thanks for the videos it's really a help for us teacher that want to go to other countries in order to do our profession :)
kratoserick 1 year ago
replying to your video, i'm 19 years old by now, turning 20 in july, and i'm on 3rd semester in the career of language teaching here in mexico, but at first i wanted to take the career of industrial desing , maybe i'll study abroad sometime in the future...., anyway, sometimes even if you know what do you want to be in the future, things not always turn to be what we hoped they'd be
kratoserick 1 year ago
Greetings from Tochigi,
I've been teaching small groups of jr. high and elementary students for several at a conversation school for years, but will soon start teaching classes of 40 as an ALT.
Any tips on class management for keeping everyone engaged and practicing their speaking?
leeanthony55 1 year ago
@leeanthony55 I hope to start an ESL section devoted to teaching ideas and sharing lessons/advice over at JapanJuku(dot)com, so check out the site and join the forums for updates
myargonauts 1 year ago
@myargonauts Oh that type of information would be a real treasure. Has this type of discussion already been brought up on your site? =)
ZerdoTheHarbinger 1 year ago
I'm 18 years old and took Japanese all 4 years in High School. I want to teach in Japan, but I am not too confident on my spelling since I'm dyslexic. I don't want that to stop my so I will buy 20 dictionaries if I have to and use them when I show my students spelling. lol I've wanted to go to Japan forever but at 14 I kept changing my mind I had no idea I just loved learning Japanese!
therealGypsyRose 2 years ago
It might not hold you back that much.
If you graduate and get your degree, then there is no "English" test to be a JET. (At least not in America - I've heard that there may be a grammar test for UK applicants)
Once there, I think you could get by with help from your JTEs - writing on the board slowly and watching for mistakes. Just avoid games like Hangman. :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
Lol thank you that makes me feel a lot better! Right now I'm trying to find a penpal in Japan no luck so far but I would like to practice more. Thank you for posting your videos they inspire me like you couldn't believe!
therealGypsyRose 2 years ago
When I was around 14 I wanted to be a journalist. Writing a column about music for the Seattle Times. So now I do sound design for games. That's connected right?
MrSoundofMind 2 years ago
these video are very helpful thanyou XD
mewprincess1 2 years ago
i am 15 now and i know what i want job i want to do teach english in japan XD but it took me almost 4 years ti decide what job i want to do !!!!
mewprincess1 2 years ago
good luck - you have a ways to go, since you have to graduate from university first, so study hard and study Japanese too. :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
man i really want to meet your class xD
idaho777 2 years ago
are you still in high school? You could apply for a student exchange program and come to Japan.
myargonauts 2 years ago
yea i am, but im afraid it might mess up my schedule
and i cant speak japanese xD
idaho777 2 years ago
At 20 years old and half way through university I still didn't know for certain what I wanted to do and in my 4 years I've changed my major 4 times. But now I'm back into history with a minor in English and I'm dedicated to be a high school teacher, which is what I entered university to do. It just took a lot of experimentation with different areas to finally figure out that this is what I really want to do.
canadianmaple09 2 years ago
When I was 15 I wasn't set on anything. I entertained the idea of several different professions such as geneticist, painter, writer, etc. I've graduated already and am still trying to decide on what to do. lol. I've been leaning towards becoming a teacher though, so we'll see how that goes. :P
Btw, good videos! They provide some good insight to overseas teaching.
AyrxValca 2 years ago
thanks for the nice comment and good luck with your career path. :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
When I was 15 I wanted to become a Astronomer, now in college I am majoring in Public Relations, along with a minor in Japanese
Skier4life08 2 years ago
I wanted to be Carl Sagan or Noam Chomsky. :D
GlobalTelos 2 years ago
And i wanted to be Roger Ebert or Philip K Dick. Funny ole world, innit? :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
That's what I thought.
nokomarie1963 2 years ago
Astrophysicist/spaceman when I was like really young. This lasted until around 9th or 10th grade when I realised that I didn't have enough passion for math to go into this line of work. Rather I just tolerated it.
For most of high school I wanted to be a Jazz performer. Entered some competitinos, did fairly well, but in the end performance is not the most stable lifestyle.
These days, as a university student I aspire to either become an Investment Banker or an Economist.
Owner46 2 years ago
When I was 15, I wanted to be a lawyer or a vet. But when I got into high school, I wanted to be a musician, a chef, or a teacher. But now that I'm in college, at first I wanted to be a director. Then I switched to an English teacher. But now, I want to be a director again. I've changed my mind a lot during those years.
Aramis9088 2 years ago
When I was 15 my dreams changed about every other month (mostly between being a teacher, a pilot, or some career with the military). Now that I'm in college I'm pretty settled on being an English teacher, but my major is business and can't change it because of my scholarships. So I have a second degree planned out for after graduation. But who knows? My dreams might change again by then.
wakisha89 2 years ago
I always wanted to be an artist. Well I'm 27 and life has bumps and I still want to be an artist. Just have to find a way to make that still a big possibility....
ladysoy 2 years ago
kind of a late reply but I thought I'd toss something in. I always had dreams, rather unrealistic for the most part though... I never knew what I really wanted to do and to some extent still don't at age 23. I'll get my degree this winter sometime and plan to apply for the Jet Programme and see where that takes me.
Ziabatsu 2 years ago
never had any plans as a kid, i decided to start nursing when i was about 17 when i started fucking up in everything but social sciences lol.
Margeriepoobaker 2 years ago
I wanted to be vet, but when I did work experience as a vet's assistant and a guinea pig died... the whole vet thing went out the window. Then from about 15, I specialised in physics as I wanted to work in weaponary engineering, but 9/11 caused some complications (long story!). Then I changed to language majors and decided I would like to teach in Japan at 16, when I had my first two Japanese nii-san come to live with me. About seven years have passed and I will be arriving later this month!
seklarwia 2 years ago
17 and have wanted to be a musician since i was about 13 but LOL that's never going to happen. Now I'm studieng japanese and am going to do it in college but I don't know what kind of "job" I could do with that : S
ceMacduff 2 years ago
I am 13. Right now I want to be a surgeon. I doubt that in the next few years my choice will change. Before I wanted to become a surgeon, my choice for a couple of years had been a lawyer.
ArcherKJ7512 2 years ago
big ambitions! Good luck!
myargonauts 2 years ago
Linux system admin (computers)
modmadmike2 2 years ago
umm when i was 14 i wanted to be a cartoonist but as i got into my older teens choosing a goal became a bit more difficult because as you get older you start thinking a bit more realistic like is there competition in this career and the classes you will need to take to accomplish this goal and now i want to do something with traveling which is way different from a cartoonist haha
yozka 2 years ago
When i was 14 i wanted to become a graphic artist and work for a magazine, how quickly did that change two years later. i decided to join the military at the age of 18 and now 4 years later I decided its time for a change, im going to start my english teacher course at a local uni and get my bachelors degree to become an ALT in japan eventually, thats my newfound goal :) eventhough im Dutch im very proficient at the english language as I hopefully demonstrate in this post :) awesome vids Jason
Morthalis 2 years ago
excellent! good luck!
myargonauts 2 years ago
I'm 14 and I want to do what you are doing, which is why I'm watching your vids :D
gussygurl 2 years ago
cool beans! Hope the vids are helpful. :D
myargonauts 2 years ago
When I was 14? I THOUGHT i knew what I wanted to be. But when I was 14 I wanted to be something new every other day.
rewmillar 2 years ago
Ditto.
typhonsentra 2 years ago
I didn't know what i wanted to be when i was 14. Even when i graduted High school and went to university i was still confused.. I didn't know until the end of first year going into second year of university. my dreams than were the same as those kids.. i thought i would become a figure skater..obviously that didn't happen lol.
BSI85 2 years ago
When I was a middle school student I did not know what career I wanted to get into, but when I imagined myself to get into something into games.Now that I am in High School, I am in the Computer Maintenance career.
mariocampos0 2 years ago
When I was fourteen? I didn't know what I would want to do, of course by then I was in high school. But when I was in Junior high, I was 12? Anyways-- I thought I'd become a construction worker, welder or tattoo artist. I'm now 18 and I'm aspiring to actually become an ELS teacher.
deathum 2 years ago
I don't think it was until 7th grade when I first got an idea of what I wanted to do for a living, so I was about 12 or 13... But even then, it wasn't necessarily the most realistic of ideas (creating video games), and I don't think many of my peers had any real idea of what they wanted to do until some time during High School, or even college.
JDavis1186 2 years ago
hell wasn't until half way through my first college semester before I figured out what I wanted to do
InzaiJack 2 years ago
When I was 14-15 I never really put any thought into that sort of stuff, but I stuck with science subjects because I found them more interesting. My fiancé wanted to do animation and still does, and is doing it in college now. I guess some people just know what they want to do and others need a bit more inspiration! I still dont know what I want to do, and im 22! :D
pointlesslyrandom666 2 years ago
Hi Jason. I don't think this is a Japanese thing. I often work with students around 12-15 in the UK. I think a lot of them haven't seriously considered their future career. For many of them, the thought of a career seems so far away. I'd even argue that a lot of people don't know by the time they leave high school. I know that of the people that left high school with me, more than 50% of them dropped out of their college courses.
Thanks for the videos Jason, I look forward to every one.
richamation 2 years ago
thanks for the nice comment
myargonauts 2 years ago
When I was in elementary school I wanted to be a pro hockey player. Once reality set in around middle school, I really had no idea what I wanted to be, and didn't really think about it much. It wasn't until late high school/early college that I really began to find what's right for me.
As of May 15th, I'll be certified to teach ESL :)
OsakaPapa 2 years ago
very cool - congrats!
myargonauts 2 years ago
Oh I did know what I wanted to become since I was 14yo... but due to a youthful ignorance I failed in actively preparing myself despite having years of time and thus failed the job test when I was 22.
When I entered university, by going to Japan, another dream arose but these days I'm seeing it smashed, again by my own stupidity.
I lack hope and depression is a bitch.
42317 2 years ago
well - I too had some setbacks in my 20s, but I rebounded nicely in my 30s, so you still have plenty of time - don't give up. :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
In Germany you get pretty much prepeared in school concerning your skills and suitable jobs. We need to do internships. I tried a lot but it was always the job as a teacher in which I fit in perfectly.
I had learned spanish in school for 3 years. You told that your students have learned english for 3 years, too. So I think my spanish was as good as their english is now!
I think your students do know what they want to be, they just can´t express theirselves very well.
kleinheidelberg 2 years ago
Good question... when people asked me @ that age I always said law b/c I did... & still do have a healthy interest in criminal & enviromental law. But I knew it wasn't going to be my career. I knew I was going to minor in music b/c it's my love.. But even now @ 29 I have no idea of what I really want to do. I have an AA in lib. arts to have a degree & I like journalism but I love music & travel.. so how to mesh both? I think you can't get a quality answer to your question until hs/college.
Prncssdrake 2 years ago
As someone who has been learning Japanese for two years, and I would say even though I *know* more than what your kids have written, I too would have trouble writing any more than what they had written with that prompt, especially if I wasn't able to take it home and complete it in my own time. It can be hard.
GoddessCarlie 2 years ago
yes it can - most of them did just fine.
myargonauts 2 years ago
I knew that I wanted to travel, I didn't know how. I knew that I wanted to explore and learn for the rest of my life, though I didn't know how I would accomplish that either. I also knew that I wanted to do something that allowed me to be creative, but again I didn't know how that would be accomplished. Sorry if that's not helpful.
Thisnamekills 2 years ago
I too always knew I wanted to travel, and I even briefly entertained the idea of joining the Navy. But I'm glad I finally got the opportunity to live abroad with JET.
myargonauts 2 years ago
I never had really flighty aspirations when I was young. I remember that I wanted to be a teacher in grammar school, then it moved into nursing in high school, and then moved back to teaching now that I'm in university.
MiSoAmerican 2 years ago
When I was younger I wanted to be a soccer player also... I am 19 now in College and am aware that that dream is fading. Soccer is a huge part of my life, I plan on joining the team next year though, while I am working on a degree not related to sports in any way...
Rarely comment on youtube, but enjoy your videos very much Jason, I had to lol
EstadioAzul9 2 years ago
thanks for the comment. I think the cool thing about sports is how active you can remain in the sport even if you don't become a Pro. here in Shimane we have JET teams in soccer, rugby, frisbee, and there are tons of other sports you can participate in like tennis, kendo, etc, etc.
myargonauts 2 years ago
I don't think I had a good idea what I wanted to do with my life until my first year of college. I know I wanted to go to Japan at that age, but I had no idea what I waned to do when i get there. I want to try out Blokus. I have seen it in some of your other videos and it seems easy to learn but fun to play.
-Billy-
WhiteMatrix2006 2 years ago
I have a question and a answer to your question.
I'm in grade 10, going into grade 11 in Canada, and I do have a pretty good idea at what I want to do it. Since I've got to high school it's changed a bit but now it finally come to a halt and I'm pretty sure. At first I wanted to be journalist, then manga artist, but after a while I kind of realized what I like to do and how I could apply that to a job. I've been taking Japanese for 2 years now. I take 3 classes a week. A beginners,intermediate
dramaxxteen 2 years ago
, and a exchange program language course since I'm going to Japan for a month in July of 2009. So I really enjoying learning Japanese and teaching others about it's culture. But aside from learning Japanese/Japanese culture, I like making friends in my high school with foreigners because I like learning about there culture and I like it when I get to teach them English and help them. So my dream is to be a English Teacher in Japan.
Now onto my question. I've decided that I would like to
dramaxxteen 2 years ago
Major in Japanese in college and get a minor in visual arts. I was wondering if this would be a good plan, because I would like to apply for JET after university? Also you said what your salary is with JET but how much is left over after you pay rent, pension, etc. Like how much do you have left for food and extra money *like to do things , example: go to the movies or buy things like magazines etc*? The last question I have is can you still teach and stay in Japan after 5 years, or no?
dramaxxteen 2 years ago
Your degree can be in any subject for JET.
If you look at my playlist on being a JET, there is a vlog about money and another where I talk about extra money - for most JETs, the salary is more than adequate to have fun and spending money while living here.
You can certainly stay in Japan after leaving JET - you just have to get a diff job.
myargonauts 2 years ago
I remember taking Spanish in middle school and we had the same type of assignments. I probably wrote the same kind of answers that your students did. Don't be disappointed...from my experience, Japanese students can speak much better English than American kids speak any other language (as a whole)
Niki926 2 years ago
It would be awesome if you video taped part of a class, if you're allowed.
PureCorrupt 2 years ago
I'm not allowed to show it on YouTube, so sorry.
myargonauts 2 years ago
Your videos are the best!!!
PureCorrupt 2 years ago
#7 - Most Discussed (Today) - Japan
#70 - Most Discussed (Today) - People & Blogs
#1 - Most Discussed (Today) - People & Blogs - Japan
#44 - Most Discussed (This Week) - Japan
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You guys rock! thanks for all the great comments! I'm reading them all
myargonauts 2 years ago
Jason--great, thoughtful vid. My response was too long to post, so I wrote you an e-mail. You must get thousands of e-mails, though. Very interesting thoughts!
hoeandrew 2 years ago
lol, u grew a beard pretty fast what was it 1 day? XD
RyanHull0623 2 years ago
haha - no, this is a slightly older vlog shot when I still had my winter beard, which I shaved at the beginning of February.
myargonauts 2 years ago
When I was in junior high, my dream was to become like Indiana Jones (well archaeologist). However, when I entered high school I really got into Japanese culture so I decided to get pursue a carreer in Japanese so I got a master in Japanese studies and a bachelor in economics (just to make sure I can find a job, since in Belgium there are not many opportunities to work at a Japanese company). Now I work in Japan as a graphic designer :p so my dream came true ^^
jirokasuga 2 years ago
very cool!
myargonauts 2 years ago
i knew for the longest time i wanted to do something in business or computers. I even had a passion for teaching. Now that i am 26 i am in the coporate business world, and i sorta work with computers partime and still my love, and I am hoping to teach with the JET programme next year. So its funny b/c i never thought about it, but I guess i'm on track for what i really wanted to do. great question Jason!
lilangel8932 2 years ago
I think it is hard at that age to even have a clue, I sure didn't. Think about this. When I was 14 the internet was just catching on, Napster just came out, and everything online seemed new. Now, it is possible to work for countless companies based solely on the net. things change and we change with them.....
On another note, the marvel poster behind you in the video is mesmerizing and with such coolness abound it is hard to pay attention to your great videos ;) Keep on Vloggin'
caseyDsutherland 2 years ago
yeah - that's a great Alex Ross collage from the series "Marvels." Amazing stuff!
myargonauts 2 years ago
That would be archaeology for me when i was 15 or so. The reason was the existence of many sites in the nearby hills (don't get me wrong..nothing serious ever came up, just pieces of pottery...but as kids, we always hoped that we might discover "smthng" cool eventually...never did though :P )
That was around 95-97. But the computers era won me, so now i am a computer science graduate.
I wanted to try the JET .You make it look rly interesting with your vlogs :) but greece rarely gets in the list
Kortan4 2 years ago
I'm 17, my dream is to go to college and get 2 degrees through a double major in Japanese and (Either Engineering or Economics) after wards I plan to move to Japan, and start a life there, and maybe even start a family there ha ha. I know I'm still young and that many youth say they want to go. But what separates them is those that loaf around going about their daily lives, and those that make self sacrifices to get themselves there.
FadedHonesty1 2 years ago
good luck in your Journey to Japan!
myargonauts 2 years ago
I wanted to be a musician and a writer. I paid my way through undergrad as a musician and I paid most of my way through graduate school as a freelance writer, so I guess I'm doing pretty well. I went to music school for a little while and hated it and now I'm finishing my MFA in Creative Writing.
djdicrispino 2 years ago
(you are a great guy!. You post a lot so i can´t follow all your videos, but it´s nice when i can watch some)
When 16??: I just wanted to be a wise person
at 26? (that´s now): I still want to be wise (i´m not yet) But finally figure out what I want as a career... so let´s see.... ask again later :D
tedebambu 2 years ago
thanks for the nice comment!
myargonauts 2 years ago
Great Vlog.
I'm starting University next year and i'm still not completly sure what i want my career to be. I'm starting and Under-grad in commerce but i'm thinking i may end up switching to History because that what i think i'm really interested in. Regardless of what my degree is, at this point i am hoping to do somehting similar to you in Japan for a while at least, i also want to travel extensivley :)
Hey i own Blockus, it's pretty fun.
6663000 2 years ago
I wanted to be a DJ.
I didn't really decide what I wanted to do, realistically, until ... probably mid college. I had a "realistic" idea in high school, but it drastically changed as soon as I got into college.
nosh276 2 years ago
when I was younger I wanted to be a DJ too, as in the person who works at a radio station and plays the music and chats on-air. It's still something I'd like to do.
myargonauts 2 years ago
Jazz musician.
readchomsky 2 years ago
Definitly wanted to be a rockstar at 14... I think at that age.. any semblance of a "normal" job is not exciting or attractive.. thus the abundance of the more exciting(especially to boys), and difficult to attain, career choices
hardyboys0 2 years ago
Oh ho! San Diego Padres banner in the background! Nice!
When I was in Jr. High I took spanish and I remember tests and written responses being difficult. Are the language lessons extremely challenging compared to U.S. schools?
Thanks for all of your Vlogs! Very informative! I'm only a couple of years younger than you and I'm seriously contemplating applying to the Jet Programme this fall.
rpm12017 2 years ago
I don't think the English classes my kids have in Jr high are that tough - but it is a lot of memorizing and writing, so it could be tough for certain students.
Glad you're enjoying the vlogs!
myargonauts 2 years ago
Thanks for the Vlog, Jason. These are great to watch.
Graehaus 2 years ago
It's a difficult question to ask, especially to 14-15 year olds. They are constantly changing their hobbies and things they like, so it's hard to come to a conclusion. It's like my grandmother asking me how many kids I want to have in the future. Heh.
stringtofate 2 years ago
This was an interesting vlog-thank you:)
When I was 14, I had a clue...as to which classes would be best if I were going for a certain path in the future....but in reality, I didn't really know what I wanted to do/be. There are people who go through college not really knowing what they want to do, so I don't think it's strange in this generation to not know what you want to be when you're 14:)
EverlastingDream328 2 years ago
I wanted to be a filmmaker and or an architect....I ended up as an electrician and now teach english in Japan... heh go figure. Most of my student are saying they want to be a doctor or a pro athlete
toddatron 2 years ago
this time of year, as graduation approaches, it would be interesting to work at a High School and see what the students are planning on doing with the next step of their lives.
myargonauts 2 years ago
firefighter :)
smiley62 2 years ago
Hey man, when I was 14 I wanted to be a Power Ranger, yeah weird. Well not a real Power Ranger but the person that played one on tv, yeah still wierd, but it wasn't until high school that I really realized or even thought of what it is I really wanted to do for a career. Even now I don't know for sure. You should ask your student who the want to be. Me peronally I would like to be someone like you (Jason), or tokyocooney, or perhaps a sumo wrestler like asashoryu or Ama, I mean Harumafuji.
SlapJackster 2 years ago
I think this is my favorite comment so far. :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
I wanted to work with computers when I was 14-15. I wasn't sure exactly what, but I had a passion for computers. I worked on that for a few years and gave up for various reasons. Partially because all the computer people I worked with were so damn cynical. But that's another topic.
Then again, when I was that age I was required to take French in school, and coming up with even a couple sentences would have been a huge struggle for me. I'm not really surprised at the answers they gave.
omnistegan 2 years ago
Actually I'm 16 right now. I turned 16 a few days ago so I can say, I kind of not really know what I want to do haha
iTzNoko 2 years ago
well Happy belated Birthday then! :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
Thanks :D
iTzNoko 2 years ago
When I was 15 I didn't really think about what I wanted to do, but I did back then and still do have a passion for video games, so thats what I'm trying for. aftger i get my AA from the comunity college I will start a Game design program and hopfully have a career in the game industry.
girusniper 2 years ago
cool - good luck!
myargonauts 2 years ago
Well I guess it's a worthwhile assignment in the sense that maybe it got one or two of the kids thinking about what they may want to do.
many of my Japanese kids tend to get very serious when I ask them a question - any question - like their answer is gonna be recorded and they'll be held accountable for it forever. What flavor of ice cream do you like? (this can take over a minute to get a response) "Banirra" - ahh then you can never eat chocolate again! :P
myargonauts 2 years ago
Haha, well, from my very limited experience being amongst the Japanese, I have definitely noticed they don't take many things lightly. They are a very calculated and analytical culture (reasons I love it) so not much room for lightheartedness.
DeeDoubleYou81 2 years ago
I'm 27 now, but when I was 15, my high school algebra teacher had all of his students write a letter to ourselves in ten years. We did this and from what I remember, everyone had grandiose plans. I received my letter 2 years ago and I had actually done about half of the things I wanted to do. My dream then was to become an air force pilot and/or engineer. Well, I have my engineering degree, but have found a new passion for teaching. Such is life, never a regret!
DeeDoubleYou81 2 years ago
that sounds like a cool program - this was in the US?
myargonauts 2 years ago
I think that question is more difficult in respect to Japanese culture. All my friends in third year university right now are all getting 4 hours of sleep a night, scrambling to go to 4 interviews a day, to get a shot at getting a job with ANY company that will hire, re-train, and mold them as to how they see fit.
Very different than the North American standards of "do what makes you happy."
Going to get some work done = making a YT vid?! Ur so addicted Jason! haha
cruxay 2 years ago
those are good points. Yeah, I am addicted, but I really did have some "work" to do as well as making this video... really! :P
myargonauts 2 years ago
14 or 15 year olds typically don't have a good idea of what they want out of life yet, it's part of being a teenager. I remember I was just as confused as any other teenager at that age.
imprezadriver 2 years ago
To continue my long rant: So I guess I'm trying to say I know pretty much what I want to do, but it's not totally definite. I know that's the case with many of my friends, and some have just a general idea. Say, one person just wants to travel, or one just wants to do something with chemistry and mathematics, what they're not sure. In middle school i wanted to be an architect I think. I just wanted to make buildings and stuff and I really didn't understand the job. Your kids just need time...
JapanPlz 2 years ago
I'm currently 17 and in my list year of high school before Uni/College and I pretty much know what I want to do. I'm really good in math, i'm in Calculus now, so I'm going to major in engineering. But I'm also really good at languages and have a great interest in them so i'm considering a double major, which will be ROUGH. My true passion is in language, but the money is in engineering... I do really like engineering but I always feel just average in my math class where in Spanish i'm the best.
JapanPlz 2 years ago
when i was 14/15 i think i wanted to be a music producer for artists..but i eventually grew up and realized it may never happen so i decided to focus on accounting..but now that im 18, i have decided to have a profession in business in Japan..but i wanna be a JET first
xTheBrandoShowx 2 years ago
cool - good luck!
myargonauts 2 years ago
Heh, I laughed when You mentioned the pilot and engineer, because that is my goal today, to become a freelancer pilot - aircraft engineer&designer. This is kind of inspired from my childhood when I wanted to be a pilot.
As for school time, I think most of students in 9th grades do not think about career, rather about spending more time with friends. I was about the same in my primary (junior high). The real life planning starts only in the last grades of high school.
YankaRonin 2 years ago
Jason, a quick question:
I have a Japanese blog and someone has requested my help in teaching them English.
She is a 30yr old woman (housewife in her words) who wants to further her English skills.
Like me, she has decided to write in English and Japanese. I simply read her blog and suggest better, but simple, sentences.
I wanted to know if there is anything more I can do for her??
I'm aware that I'm only helping her writing ability, not speaking, but I want to help as much as possible.
Zojo87 2 years ago
I think that's a really nice thing you're doing.
I think that's a good first step and enough effort on your part at this point.
myargonauts 2 years ago
When I was 14/15yrs old, I wanted to be a paediatrician. Mainly because it involved working with children and after watching things such as Casualty and ER that made me want to do something in the Medical field.
Now that I'm 21, and after a few personal experiences, I've been put off medicine and the only thing I have in mind now is to go to Japan and teach English for awhile. I am not completely sure of what I want to do in the far future, but I hope more opportunites unveil themselves.
Zojo87 2 years ago
I wanted to live in Japan since I was 12 years old due to a student teacher (not japanese) coming in and introducing Japan to the classroom. I wanted to be a doctor then but when I turned 16 I wanted to become an English teacher. Then I found out about the JET program. lol 1+1=2. Now here I am at 22 with one year left of college, majoring in Japanese and prepping my resume for JET. I teach and tutor english to highschool kids, tutor japanese, and am getting tesl cert after I take one more class.
angel21d 2 years ago
Where are you currently going to University? I live in the US and I'm having trouble finding some good colleges with a lot of languages, most importantly Japanese.
JapanPlz 2 years ago
I am going to Oakland University (in Michigan), near Detroit.
angel21d 2 years ago
good luck!
myargonauts 2 years ago
Thank you :). Question: Does my resume sound like it would do ok during the selection process for JET? Thanks. Also how many years have you been there?
angel21d 2 years ago
your resume sounds good! I have been a JET for five years.
myargonauts 2 years ago
Well, I'm fourteen now, and I guess I have a basic idea of what I want to do. I want to become an illustrator/animator, and of course be a JET. Well, I know a lot of my friends know what they want to be. But in the case of writing what you want to be in a foreign language like Spanish...most of my friends would try to put what they genuinely want to be. But I also know a lot of them would take the easy route and just put something silly like, "I want to be a basketball player."
o0HoneyBee0o 2 years ago
Haha! I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up!
My ni-nensei's had to write about their dream. One of the boys in my class wrote:
"I want to be God of the world in the future"
My favorite response ever to that question :)
stufflikethat 2 years ago
I like that one! :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
You don't need to be sad at their essays because Japanese usually don't talk about their dreams. Some even think that if they keep their dreams only in their mind, they really come true. If you know what kind of English tests they are tackling now, you know they learn a lot in 3 years from you.
Tnakamura11 2 years ago
I like to think my kids have learned lots of things from me besides just English grammar, etc.
Mostly that speaking and interacting with a "foreigner" can be easy, fun and not scary.
myargonauts 2 years ago
To teach Japanese history/anthropology at Tokyou U. I was also really in to archeology as I was a BIG fan of Indiana Jones. ^_^ Oh yeah, I wanted to be a wife too. ;_;
kabukiqueen85 2 years ago
yes - Indy Jones. I wanted to be the sexy professor, but since that's not gonna happen... LOL
myargonauts 2 years ago
The only dream for is to go to Japan and to get a good paying job so I can have a nice easy life! XD
AnimeImaginator147 2 years ago
me too! :D
myargonauts 2 years ago
I wanted to be a cartoonist then I wanted to own my own business then I wanted to be a graphic designer then I wanted to design video games, now I do nothing. But now I want to be a photographer.
timz84 2 years ago
i wish i could grow a good beard
eightwillwontcannot 2 years ago
mine grows pretty well, but it's all white now - *sigh* getting old. :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
lol, you ryhmed at the end when you said "...oh, there goes the chime. Its lunchtime!"
iameiame 2 years ago
haha - all planned!! You know I write scripts for all these vlogs right... LOL
myargonauts 2 years ago
Comment removed
iameiame 2 years ago
I am a Japanese and went to a local Japanese school at Junior high. At that time I don't remember anything determined as to what to choose as my profession. I was only thinking about entering a topnotch university without connecting to any kind of job. Many Kids from the US seems a little more mature.
ughat 2 years ago
yeah - I should ask some of my teachers what kind of career guidance my students get, or if that is more focused on in high school here.
myargonauts 2 years ago
I just wanted to be in Japan.
Living the dream :D
TkyoSam 2 years ago
and I just want to be TKYO Sam when i grow up... :)
myargonauts 2 years ago
At 10, I wanted to be a cardiologist. At 15, a biologist. At 19, a forensic scientist. And what did I become at 25? A youth exchange program coordinator. Just goes to show that life can take you in pretty interesting, if unexpected, directions. ;)
felixlowe 2 years ago
I really wanted to be an architect when I was in 8th or 9th grade. It took my senior project which we did on our possible career for me to figure out it wasn't what I wanted to do.
Senior year is kind of a bad year to lose a focus. I am currently working towards a degree in International Business though, I had always been as 'good' at that as a high schooler can be. I won competitions and stuff...and as much as I knew I didn't really want to do it for a living...yet.
SchoolhouseTechno 2 years ago
I could understand if I were like on the varsity tennis or football team saying that I wanted to be a football player or something. But that would just be a means to getting a degree...but to get to that point you kind of need to focus on the sport.
Of course, I don't know how viable sports would be to attaining a college degree in Japan.
SchoolhouseTechno 2 years ago
I think if you're really good at sports, it can get you scholarships, etc just like in the States, but you're right - it doesn't guarantee you a job or a degree and few make it to the big leagues.
myargonauts 2 years ago
I've been legally blind all my life. This made a huge difference in my life. All through school I never knew what I wanted to do. I went to college. Still, no idea. I studied Sociology (have a B.A. in it) only because I felt like a social outcast and wanted to study societal norms. I'm 40 now. I have never had a job. Live on disablity all my life. I look back now and realize not knowing what I wanted to do in life ruined me in a lot of ways. My life will never go anywhere for it.
blackberrybunny 2 years ago
?
if you are blind, how did you post this?
HoneyBaby778 2 years ago
I am legally blind. I have a little vision, but it is so bad that legally, I am considered blind. I have to enlarge the text and get really close to the screen.
blackberrybunny 2 years ago
I certainly meandered a bit on my way to being a teacher - I had a lot of fun in my 20s and didn't go back to college for my degree until I was in my 30s, so it's never too late.
myargonauts 2 years ago
I wanted to be some sort of scientist but I was not exactly sure what type. I think it is fine for a kid of that age to not know what they want to be because they will have plenty of time to figure that out. Cheers
alos31 2 years ago
I remember in 8th grade getting a perfect score along with the cute smart girl on a paper, I was floored and didn't even try. Did you have any such students?
BTW at that age I had/have no aspirations on what I wanted out of life. :P
PannaIka 2 years ago
I'm 25 now but honestly I don't think their responses are to far off from most American 15 year olds. Yes I had an idea of what I wanted to be but there were still lots of people in my junior highschool with "lofty" goals of being professional athletes, etc. BTW thanks for the videos.
ActiveAero 2 years ago
thanks for the comment
myargonauts 2 years ago
13 I knew I wanted to do something with computers. 15 or 16 I narrowed it down to web design. Then once I got into college narrowed it down even more to web development and programming.
DeathfireD 2 years ago
I'm 15 right now and I have ideas of what I want to do but nothing definate. I'm horrible at deciding things, especially something big like that.
Hevszel 2 years ago
well - all the comments on this vid seem to indicate that you're not alone and you still have plenty of time to figure it all out
myargonauts 2 years ago