What will you be when you grow up?

We recently watched the 2015 animated film The Little Prince for family movie night. I’ve seen it a couple of times before. It’s a beautiful, poignant film based on the 1943 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry book of the same name. This time, I was struck by a scene in the movie in which The Little Girl prepares for her entrance interview to the Werth Academy. In the waiting room, a poster reads: “When I grow up, I want to be essential.” The assumption is that Werth Academy is an elite, regimented school. Guided by her mother, The Little Girl has prepared a response to one question: “Are you Werth Academy material?” Instead, she is asked, “What will you be when you grow up?” She can’t respond. She’s been drilled through a brutal schedule of studying equations and learning the ‘correct’ answers. The question requires something she’s been taught to forget: childhood creativity, wonder and curiosity. As the movie progresses, it becomes clear that the answer the interviewer is seeking is a specific…