If you had a child (or already do)...

[Solomon]

Let's say you had a child (or you already do). You teach him Go at an early age, and he takes it seriously. If he tells you a few years later that he aspires to be a Go pro, would this be something you'd fully support? And by fully support, I mean being willing to fly him to Asia, having him sacrifice his education to study Go at an academy full-time, etc. Or would you tell him to simply treat the game as a hobby and focus on his schoolwork and other activities? I never really had the opportunity to learn the game when I was little, but sometimes I wonder if it's such a bad thing that I learned it late enough for me or my parents to not even be able to reasonably consider this. But I wonder, if I get a kid...

[Toge]

What does it mean to "sacrifice education" to study something? Is there some kind of archaic list of occupations thou shall educate in lest you disgrace your family? Instilling neurotic fear and doubt doesn't sound like a good way to bring up children. Surely I would support study of Go.

[Kirby]

I'd like to add to this question, and ask parents, in general, the degree to which they guide their children toward what they see as "their best interests" vs. allowing for them to find their own path in life.

Personally, if I were a parent already, I may be too biased toward go to answer Araban's question.

[Dusk Eagle]

What does it mean to "sacrifice education" to study something? Is there some kind of archaic list of occupations thou shall educate in lest you disgrace your family? Instilling neurotic fear and doubt doesn't sound like a good way to bring up children. Surely I would support study of Go.

The difference is that focusing on normal education at the expense of Go is highly likely to pay off in the future, whereas if you focus on Go at the expense of normal education but fail to become a pro, you're in a bad/difficult situation.

[SoDesuNe]

I guess it's more like, if you want to be a professional Go player, it is very hard for Westerns to do this without neglecting standard western education. One of the main reasons will be, that you have to stay in some asian country to recieve proper training and that at young age.

Of course you can try to get a decent home education but that requieres some (even more) money in the family.

If I had a kid, who wants to be a professional Go player? Hmm. Depends on the kid's age and its progress, respectively its chance to really compete. But I think it will fail because of two things: I personally favour education over Go and most likely its mother will do the same =D

On the other side, I wouldn't mind financing Go trips in the holidays and stuff. The day the kid turns 18, it's out of my hands anyway ; )

[Joaz Banbeck]

The sad part of the whole issue is that most children ( err...most people under 20 ) don't really know enough about themselves or the world to choose a career.

I went into college as a pre-med major, came out a computer programmer. Did that for a few years, then drifted into bookselling. It wasn't until my mid-40's that I realized enough about the particulars of how my brain worked to conclude that I should have been an architect / structural engineer.
One of my fellow booksellers is an ex-attorney. He went through the whole process for 20 years only to find out that it wasn't for him.
My wife is an attorney. She doesn't really like it. When she reaches a certain financial milestone in their retirement program, she will start a new career as an interior designer.

[shapenaji]

So I guess the situation we're envisioning is the Michael Redmond approach? 5-7d by 13-15 then off to Japan? I honestly find it hard to believe that my kids would want to leave their entire life behind to go do that. It would have to be a decision on my part to actively pursue their go education, and I just don't think I'd be willing to do that.

Try to imagine a 15-yr-old who wants to leave all their friends behind and move somewhere totally new. (I'm not saying my children couldn't be misanthropes... I certainly was. But it would have to be going really badly here, I think for them to want to pack up and leave everyone behind)

[Solomon]

Is there some kind of archaic list of occupations thou shall educate in lest you disgrace your family?

I would have disgraced my family if I pursued anything outside of science/engineering/medicine.

[LR24]

I doubt I would let my kid go to asia to study to become pro. Even if he/she was 7d at the age of 12.

Probably even if I could - through magic - be sure that my kid will succeed and turn pro.

[Laman]

i think i would support my child, if it had reasonable chances to succeed

on the other hand i wouldn't probably be so happy if it wanted to become for example a professional sportsman, so it is more that i like go than that i would be giving my child so much freedom (even considering that there isn't yet a single Czech go pro, while there are many successful pro sportsmen)

[rubin427]

No.
Sorry Kid.
Why don't you meet a nice girl?

[hyperpape]

Don't you know you're only supposed to ask easy questions?

Luckily, there's an easy way out.

Or would you tell him to simply treat the game as a hobby and focus on his schoolwork and other activities?

Someone who is actually smart doesn't need to focus on schoolwork before college. That's for semi-intelligent grade-grubbers.

(Or so I thought until age 22 or so...)

[Toge]

The sad part of the whole issue is that most children ( err...most people under 20 ) don't really know enough about themselves or the world to choose a career.

- This kind of thinking carries implicit progress-belief. What happened in the past was inferior to what is in the present. One has to know what they will be doing in life. Why not consider life an unique journey of discovery instead, where your values will change and each experience will shape the future? Interesting thing about life is that it can only be understood backwards. No child knows what it's like to be a boring adult, yet.

[CnP]

I think the question is if there was something they really enjoyed would you support it or squash it and tell them they had to do the sensible thing. Me, I'd support it if I could afford to - they only get one life. .. and here's the thing - these 'proper' jobs aren't always so great anyway. Say they spend 6 years training to be a pro and fail. They come home, decide they want to be a tree surgeon (or yoga teacher, etc etc etc), train up and do the job fine and have a life outside of work.

If the question is whether I'd ever push one of my children to study Go at the insane level required to turn pro, no way!

[daal]

The difference is that focusing on normal education at the expense of Go is highly likely to pay off in the future, whereas if you focus on Go at the expense of normal education but fail to become a pro, you're in a bad/difficult situation.

I'm not so sure that this is true. There are plenty of people with a "normal education" who land in bad or difficult situations. There are others who have tried to achieve an early goal and failed and have gone on to live interesting and fulfilled lives. I think that there is great value in learning to take one's interests seriously.

I basically feel that my role as a parent is to expose my child to opportunities and to support her when she chooses to take one. On the other hand, many people have become successful precisely because they have had to overcome the objections of their parents - i.e., facing the resistance is what lets them know how much they wanted something.

Regarding Kirby's question, yes, I attempt to present her with opportunities that might move her in a direction that seems to me favorable.

I must admit that I hadn't considered the possibility that my daughter would choose an opportunity that would cause her to leave the family at such an early age, and I would want to make sure that it was considerably more than a whim. If she did however overcome my objections, I would try to support her in any way I could.