Do parents (or other family members) have any right deciding a child's future?
For example: Jane is a high school student who has always had a strong passion for art and she's great at it, but her father wants her to be a lawyer like him. He thinks that her artwork is pretty much a bunch of garbage and that she'll never get anywhere with her talent. Is it right of her father to force her to go to law school instead of an art institute?
In my own opinion, I don't think it's right for any parent to force their child into a career path. Every child has different passions and dreams for themselves. The way I see it is if a child is denied to pursue those dreams of theirs that it's very much like being slapped in the face. "Oh, you have this passion? I really don't give a shit and you should do this instead because it's what I want for you."
I , myself, have dreams of being a coroner and a writer. I've been writing since I was five years old. As for wanting to be a coroner, it wasn't until I was about fourteen or fifteen that I started having a strong interest in that career field. I've always found CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, and other similar shows to be very interesting and I could see myself doing that sort of job as well. When I was in Elementary and saw a dead cat covered in maggots off the path a few feet away from the sidewalk, it fascinated me and didn't gross me out. I was that strange little girl who wanted to know how the animal died and how long it had been there. The dissection labs in high school never bothered me either. After all of these years I still don't really have the best support system for either of my dream careers. "I don't think you can make a career out of writing." "A coroner? That's really creepy and gross. You're a Psycho." However, I'm one of those children who grew up and is still going to pursue her dreams.
Although I'm not a parent, I honestly wouldn't force my son or daughter into any career path whether or not they had a strong passion for something else. I just don't see myself as the kind of parent who isn't supportive of her child's dreams. It's one thing for me to grow up without support for my own dreams and it's another to do the same thing to my own child...