Generation of space kids
When we were children, we were often asked who we want to be when we grow up. Often, our answers were based on our parents’ experience and based on social trends, here I mean technological and economic development, and most importantly, on the examples of other people who reached great heights. Our choice could look like an athlete, a doctor, a policeman, an entrepreneur, and so on. The development of our society dictates or sends us thoughts about who we would like to be.
Lego’s research describes exciting statistics about children’s preferences in the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. They surveyed 3,000 children and provided five professions to choose: vlogger / YouTuber, teacher, professional athlete, musician, and astronaut.
Vlogger/Youtuber was the most popular choice (29% and 30% respectively) in the US and UK; astronaut, meanwhile, was the least popular (11%). In China, the trend was the opposite, with more than half of respondents selected astronauts (56%).
But why was the choice of our children vlogger?
Of course, today, children spend a lot of time on the Internet. Of course, they see examples of how you can make money on Youtube. They watch videos of other children. They see that they have many subscribers, and they earn money that they can spend on buying all kinds of devices, clothes, and so on. Perhaps at an early age, children do not think only about money. There is something else. They think about recognition, about likes, about attention. Many studies describe bloggers’ psychological component, for example, that people looking for validation online often try to cover some internal problems with this. The desire to have a lot of money on Youtube does not make a person happy when the goal is achieved.
The children follow the examples and are inspired by other people. Of course, many children ask their parents — “before I choose who I want to be, I need to know in what profession I can make more money?”. Only after the parents’ answer, kids make their choice. Sometimes the choice is wrong. They want to follow money and fame along the easiest path for their opinion, and not choose based on their inner desires, following their dreams. Children with strong character and children who grew up in certain conditions and are not involved in the vlogger world make choices by following their hearts. They are dreamers, and only dreamers will achieve incredible success and be pioneers in many areas.
Space & Kids
But not everything is so bad with children’s desire to be an integral part of space development. More than 80% of children believe that humans will go to Mars in the future. 96% of children in China would like to go to other planets, but in the States and Great Britain, this figure is below 70%.
Where is the problem?
Fifty years ago, Apollo 11 carried NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon, and today’s children are well-versed in the history of global space exploration.
It was so long ago that the power of the influence of these events on children is fading away every day. Yes, it remains an incredible human achievement, but without reinforcing these achievements, we lose faith and hope, and as a result, inspiration.
Thanks to SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic, we see more and more incredible human achievements in space. These companies and their founders are now creating a powerful impetus for developing the space industry, and children can see it. They see that people around them admire these achievements. They see how everyone is talking about it, which gives them great interest and motivation. Plus, the mystery of space and the unknown complements all this.
Children born after 2015 and not yet completely spoiled by the Internet can observe all this, and their eyes light up with such incredible inner strength that it gives us great hope for the future. These children will make an incredible contribution to space exploration in 20 to 30 years.
How to generate children’s interest in space?
It is our responsibility to bring the space industry closer to children as close as possible. Make it as accessible as creating a YouTube video. This is one of the problems — children would like to study and understand space exploration, but there is no opportunity for this.
When in the same study, the children were asked — who did you want to be in the field of space exploration? The first place was taken by the astronaut (90%), followed by the engineer (58%) and computer programmer (52%). Only seven percent of children see a role for a Farmer / Gardener in the space program, an indication that kids may not realize all of the different jobs required to support space travel.
Our task with you is to give them everything they need to understand all the professions in space exploration and give them all the necessary tools, technologies, and information for this.
The space development must be accessible for kids, like making youtube videos.
