Career development and guidance
FutureLab, a carrer guidance program for secondary schools, revolves around this question. Because when you become who you are, you usually become happy, doing things that suit you. Therefore, this career guidance question should be central in school and all subjects should revolve around becoming who you are.
How did you become who you are?
If I ask you this question in the past tense, "How did you become who you are?", you probably don't have an answer right away. Probably you will think back to all the steps in your career from your school days and what you experienced in all those years, which made you make certain choices. Perhaps you'll think back also of your interests, such as hobbies you had early on, or talents you have always possessed, such as musicality or being good at math....
Experiencing and thinking about it
That is exactly why you become who you are. Becoming who you are consists of a mixture of different experiences you have in your life and consciously thinking about them; what do I like, interest, or dislike? Why does it make me (not) happy? How does it fit me? Why do others think it fits me? What does that say about my competences and talent? How can I use these and what do I still need to develop/learn?
What do teachers think about this?
I wonder if this question is alive among teachers and if they think it is important to discuss this regularly with students, in order to discuss how you as a subject teacher can contribute to this with your subject.
Discuss together sometime?
Which secondary school teachers, mentors and deans may I invite to a meeting together to discuss how we can help students become who they are and make this career orientation question a main issue instead of an afterthought at school. I would like to discuss with these concerned teachers what is needed for this and especially, what they themselves need for this.