Last week we celebrated six years of living in Canada - there are so many things to be grateful for. We were able to build a comfortable life for ourselves and have been really lucky, but the number one thing I'm grateful for is that we have the chance to be the best we can be.
I was raised in Germany and by the time German kids hit their early teens, they pretty much have to decide which way they are going to go - blue collar or white collar. I know the system is slowly changing, but it is still very rigid and it is at a very early age that people have to choose their profession.
Not everyone gets to go to High School - if your grades are not up to par you move on to a secondary school that in the end only leaves you with the option of an apprenticeship, but not the chance to get a college education. I guess that's one way to preserve the legendary reputation of fine engineering and ingenuity...
I certainly don't want to give you a lesson in the German education system - I am glad I put that baby to rest for good six years ago, when we moved to Canada. But I want to tell you a little bit about my kids - two kids who were destined by the system to be blue collar.
Not that anything is wrong with being blue collar (Hello? My husband is a plumber!) - but I think it's wrong not to have the chance to be whatever you want to be.
My oldest was in Grade 4 when we moved and my youngest was in Grade 1. Both their teachers told me on several occasions that there was no hope of them accomplishing anything as far as their scholastic careers were concerned. Too easily distracted, too anxious, too chatty, too high strung... My oldest was given an official ADD diagnosis and I was told to have my youngest tested for autism (which I never did - aren't we all on some kind of spectrum?).
As soon as we moved to Canada things really turned around for both of them. They got the support they needed and most importantly they were marked on their individual efforts and improvements. Once they realized they had no label here, they liked going to school again - and that has not changed in the last 6 years. They know that if they make it through High School, they can learn whatever they want and be whatever they want to be.
Things really turned around for me as well. Even though I was lucky enough to go to High School in Germany and to go to college, I would have never been able to become a writer. It just wasn't the track I was on and it didn't matter that my heart was set on it. Of course we weren't just handed our dream life here - but we were given the opportunity to build ourselves one with hard work and lots of determination.
So, Canada - thank you. Really. I mean it.