With the myriad of occupations that are available today, it must be very confusing to narrow down a career choice. In fact, for some young people, it is so difficult that they just put it off—sometimes until after college graduation. Apparently there is a myth—if I graduate from college, I will get a well-paying job. In today’s economy, nothing could be further from the truth.
I propose a three-prong system of guiding young people towards a career for which they will be well suited and well prepared. This system would start in middle school with an exploration of careers through reading. The culminating activity would be a research paper about their career of choice at that moment. Papers could be presented in class for a broad spectrum of ideas. I remember writing a paper about airline stewardesses when I was in 8th grade. That was not the career I chose, but I do enjoy travel.
The second step would take place in high school. Students should take a well-crafted aptitude test that would indicate their preferences and skills. Each student should meet with a career guidance counselor to discuss the results of the test. Then the student should take the results home to discuss their implications with parents. The culminating activity would be an interview with a person in a field for which the student shows aptitude and interest. The interview should then be written up as a report that includes both advantages and disadvantages of that field.
It would be beneficial to pair the high school career segment with a required class about budgeting and finance. How do credit cards work? What is compounding interest? How are workers able to retire? This topic would tie in well with research on the salaries and lifestyles for different careers. The next step is applying for post-secondary training/education.
At either a college or vocational school, students should be required to do internships or paid co-ops in their chosen field. If a student does not have a career choice, then a possible career in his major should be explored in the internship or co-op. A third possibility is simply volunteering or shadowing if appropriate. Both of my children had rude awakenings from co-ops or internships and, although they did not change majors, they changed areas of concentration. Their time in college was prolonged because of these changes. It was time and money well spent.
All majors would do well to follow the excellent model set by teacher education. Prospective teachers are sent into classrooms as observers and recorders as early as their freshman year. There is a second foray into the classroom as a helper, and lastly, of course, a semester of student teaching. Students who do not enjoy these requirements are weeded out early from education as a major.
If all this seems forced, I agree, but giving little thought to the end result of years of education is sadly lacking in foresight. Surely, minds will change along the way, but at least students will be made aware of the cause and effect of education and occupation. Educating an individual is a great cost to taxpayers who expect a productive citizen as a result. Post-secondary education is increasingly expensive and has incurred a huge amount of debt for some. Simply going along mindlessly, hoping that a miracle will occur and a career will serendipitously appear is not going to cut it anymore.
What steered you toward the career you chose?
5 comments:
It makes sense to me. I did have a finance class my senior year of high school. It was called "Senior Life Skills." We had to learn to balance a checkbook, learn to write a resume, find a potential job ad in the newspaper and "schedule" an interview, then hold that mock interview with a teacher. We had to learn how to rent an apartment, how to balance a budget, and how to plan a vacation on a budget. We even learned what our rights were when our airline flight was canceled (used to be a free meal and a free hotel room--ah, the good old days). It was a great class that I remember all these years later.
In junior high I don't think we did anything like you suggest. At that point, I still wanted to be an attorney and live on a cabin-cruiser. Ha!
In high school we did have career days, but none of the careers I was interested in were profiled. We also did the aptitude testing, but the test was not well-designed. It recommended I be a florist. Not likely.
Actually, I never thought I'd be a teacher. In fact, it was the last thing I ever thought I'd be. I didn't even decide to be one until I was in graduate school. During college, I wanted to work in editing/publishing. Due to a lack of funds to attend the training program, that never happened. I guess, though, I am an editor in a way. I sure do edit quite a bit of bad writing!
I sure could have used a class like Senior Life Skills. I just think that with the outrageous rates of credit card interest that teens should be aware from the start.
Having worked at the middle school, high school, and college levels in this field, I can say that i've seen bits of this plan in all of them. I've never seen a coordinated plan in any of them, however. It would take a serious curriculum change for this to happen, but I agree, that it's the right thing to do.
Instead of Life Skills, we had Latin. This knowledge comes in handy when watching Jeopardy and doing crosswords.
Oh Jeebus, I agree with everything you say. I came to my career decision late in my 20s, as the result of working in different career fields. I needed the experience to decide what I didn't want to do, because what I wanted to do originally was so bleeding heart it burned me out in less than 3 years.
I think it would be a great idea to visit the practical (how to do a budget? how to exist on your budget?) with something more tailored to each person (are you first-born? maybe some caretaking issues unresolved in your family of origin?) to determine where to go from there.
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