How scientist could become the next rockstars.

“What did you want to become when you were little?” is one of my favourite questions. Most of the time, people will tell you something like ‘astronaut’, ‘firefighter’ or that they really wanted to be a rockstar.

Often, kids tell you what they would like to become based on the television shows they watch or the people they know and admire. Kids (and in fact every human being) form these wishes based on what they’re exposed to.

There is lots of talk and many studies that have been done about social mobility and how hard it is to move up within social hierarchies.

I don’t actually believe it’s that hard — or at least, not hard in the way people think. It’s not the lack of possibilities, it’s the access to information about “What one could become” that’s missing; and maybe a few people to encourage you that you can become whatever you wish for.

Of course, you have to know what you could wish for, before you can wish it.

Speaking for myself, I was born in communist Czechoslovakia. My family is what’s considered working class. No one had a degree. My grandma began her career at a local assembly line. My grandfather was a coal miner. My father was a nurse. My mother was a secretary. Where I grew up, the expectations were to get married at 20 and have kids asap. If I was lucky I could work at a local factory. If I was really lucky, I could work at the very same factory in the administration department.

But there was one big difference between my upbringing and the upbringing of many others who were raised in similar circumstances; I have been taught where to search and how to inform myself about possibilities. I have been taught how to push doors open and how every door leads to another.

When you take a second look at children’s dreams, you’ll soon realise those dreams are reflections of their environment. Children form future plans based on what they can picture and take ownership of. Let’s put it like this: if scientists would show what they think is cool about their job, what they do every day and how they got there, then I’m sure more kids would want to become scientists. Scientists could be the next rockstars. If more women would publicly say that math is fun and science is exciting, more girls would want to do that too.

I would put my hand in the fire to vouch for this.