In my day, when we were asked at school what we wanted to do when we grew up, there was an almost scriped reply sheet; nurse, hairdresser, secretary, train driver, bus driver, fireman, policeman etc. etc. This was because those not at grammer level were not expected to achieve anything more than regular paid employment. However, my own father was a trained aero engineer from the navy. Once out in civvy, he had two paid jobs and also went to night school when we were small, taking technical drawing, to use his natural art skills and exsquisite eye for detail. This was a really difficult thing to achieve, to work in the day time to bring in money, and study at night to take exams. But he eventually became a technical author with a major defence company and I am so very proud of his continued training and work ethic which he instilled in my sisters and me.
