My answer to the fourth question is very short and simple: no. I see no reason that prep for a future career should be different for sons than daughters. But a problem I have with this entire question, is the assumption that it's on parents to get their kids on a trajectory to a good career. One reason kids struggle is that today's parents make their every decision until they're in college. A less obvious thing is that a childhood spent watching screens saps initiative. I thanked my mother many times for depriving us of TV till I was twelve; my kids have thanked me for doing the same, but unfortunately my son and daughter-in-law both work and my grandkids spend a lot of time with screens. Our society now inflicts on kids a schizophrenic mix of overprotection and abuse: every schoolchild knows that his or her classroom could be the next to host a school shooter, and no laws can be made to reduce the incidence of this horrifying crime--yet a parent can get a teacher removed for mentioning some historical fact or using language that is disturbing to the child. Even college professors. There are "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces" but every kid also knows that the world is careening toward dystopia by climate change, biodiversity loss, potentially nuclear war, and nothing that would impede the profits of weapons companies or fossil fuel companies can be done, so nothing is done.
EVERY single point I made in this post is true in India, maybe even more than elsewhere, according to Bloomberg:
Worthless Degrees Are Creating an Unemployable Generation in India
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-17/india-s-worthless-college-degrees-undercut-world-s-fastest-growing-major-economy
oh boy... check out this great confirmation, just in from Wired, of many of the points I made in this article: https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-tech-layoffs-reveal-americas-unhealthy-obsession-with-work/
My answer to the fourth question is very short and simple: no. I see no reason that prep for a future career should be different for sons than daughters. But a problem I have with this entire question, is the assumption that it's on parents to get their kids on a trajectory to a good career. One reason kids struggle is that today's parents make their every decision until they're in college. A less obvious thing is that a childhood spent watching screens saps initiative. I thanked my mother many times for depriving us of TV till I was twelve; my kids have thanked me for doing the same, but unfortunately my son and daughter-in-law both work and my grandkids spend a lot of time with screens. Our society now inflicts on kids a schizophrenic mix of overprotection and abuse: every schoolchild knows that his or her classroom could be the next to host a school shooter, and no laws can be made to reduce the incidence of this horrifying crime--yet a parent can get a teacher removed for mentioning some historical fact or using language that is disturbing to the child. Even college professors. There are "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces" but every kid also knows that the world is careening toward dystopia by climate change, biodiversity loss, potentially nuclear war, and nothing that would impede the profits of weapons companies or fossil fuel companies can be done, so nothing is done.