Pilot yes, politician no

Children dream of becoming pilots and flight attendants, but not politicians, an ABAC survey finds.

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According to a recent survey, these cute Thai children are very likely to be dreaming of becoming a pilot or flight attendant. PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD

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Pilots, air crew top kids' career choices

Lamphai Intathep

Children dream of becoming pilots and stewardesses, while many parents want their kids to be doctors when they grow up, an opinion poll conducted by Assumption University has found.

Abac's Academic Network for Community Happiness Observation and Research surveyed 1,205 parents, children and teenagers in Bangkok from Jan 4-11. The poll was conducted to mark Children's Day tomorrow.

The poll found pilots and flight attendants were ranked as the top choice by young boys and girls (31%) when asked what they wanted to be when they grew up.

The next most popular choices were actors, actresses and singers at 29.1%, doctors at 28.9%, businessmen at 25.7% and police at 24.4%.

The rest wanted to be nurses, teachers, academics, soldiers, engineers and bank employees.

Being a politician was the least popular career choice at only 0.2%, said Noppadol Kannikar, director of the Abac poll.

The survey also showed that 36% of parents wanted their children to be doctors, followed by businessmen at 29.4%, teachers and academics at 26.3%, nurses at 12.4%.

Less than 1% of the parents, or 0.4%, wanted to see their children enter politics.

Asked if they were happy with the amount of time their parents spent with them, 65% of children said they were satisfied. But about 35% said their parents did not spend enough time with them.

pilot – a person who operates the controls of an aircraft, especially as a job นักบิน
crew – the people who work on a ship, aircraft, etc. ลูกเรือ
career – a job or series of related jobs that you do, especially a profession that you spend a lot of your working life in  อาชีพ
flight attendant – someone who serves passengers on an aircraft
stewardess – a female flight attendant บริกรหญิงบนเครื่องบิน
poll – an occasion when a lot of people are asked about what they feel about something – การสำรวจความคิดเห็น
conduct – to do something in an organised way; to carry out — ลงมือทำ, ดำเนิน, ปฏิบัติ
academic – relating to education เชิงวิชาการ
network – a large system of connected parts, organisations, people, etc. เครือข่าย
community – the people living in one particular area ชุมชน
observation – the process of watching someone or something carefully, in order to find something out การสังเกต
research – a careful study of a subject, especially in order to discover new facts or information about it การวิจัย
Academic Network for Community Happiness Observation and Research – ศูนย์เครือข่ายวิชาการเพื่อสังเกตการณและวิจัยความสุขชุมชน
survey– to ask a large number of people questions to find out their opinions สำรวจ
mark – to show respect for or to remember ระลึกถึง
popular – a situation in which someone or something is liked by many people เป็นที่นิยม, เป็นที่ชื่นชอบ
nurse – someone who is trained to look after ill or injured people, usually in a hospital พยาบาล
academic – someone who teaches at a college, or who studies as part of their job นักวิชาการ
politician – a person whose job is concerned with politics, especially as an elected member of parliament, etc. นักการเมือง
satisfied – pleased because you have achieved something or because something that you wanted to happen has happened พอใจ