Twelve years ago, I wrote a rather pompous viral article titled “Why my child will be your child’s boss.” Granted, the headline was designed to get hits, but I truly believe the principles the Swiss schools espouse, namely independence.
The child in the article graduated from secondary school earlier this month, and I’m sorry to say he is not anyone’s boss yet. Granted, he’s 16, so there is time. But as far as independence goes, he and a friend are off on a nine-hour hike today. I’m very grateful he can do this without my help.
But I wanted to tell you what he’s doing next, besides hiking: Schnupperwochen.
The Swiss mini-internship philosophy
Don’t worry, I’ll translate. Schnupperwochen are week-long mini-internships at various companies. He’s scheduled to do 10 or 12 of them. Why? Because he wants to figure out what he wants to do.
While I absolutely adore Swiss kindergarten and the independence it fosters, the Swiss school system is far from perfect. I strongly dislike the pressure they put on young teens to decide what their career path will be. My son has done several internship weeks at various companies and various jobs and still doesn’t know what he wants to do. After pushing back on the demands that he decide now, we learned about a hybrid program that mixes internships and academics.
He’s opted for a year where he will go to school half the time and spend the other half trying out a variety of careers.
