“What do you want to be when you grow up?” a middle school teacher asks her classroom of doe eyed, sheltered and know-it-all students. Whether they want to be a lawyer, teacher, astronaut or any other job imaginable, the teacher’s response will be, ‘you can be whatever you want to be’ or ‘chase your dreams’. Because after all, the aspirations that a person has at 12 will still stand at 65… or at least that’s what the school system says.
There are so many career choices in the world, and it is unrealistic to expect young people, who have barely lived, to perfectly construct a plan for a future doing something that they have no real experience in. Schools enforce this idea that people have to stick to one career for their entire life, and in preparation for that, a career plan has to be made by the end of high school to give students the most skills for success by graduation.
“I feel like having to choose a career in high school can be really stressful, especially since young people do not really know much about themself yet, let alone, what they want for their future.” Makala Miner, West junior said.
Most young people have no idea of what they want to choose as a career. The pressure to make a decision that will seemingly affect the rest of their life can be overwhelming and exhausting to young people whose brains aren’t even fully developed.
Career preparatory planning becomes much more of a priority in high school, where teenagers are tasked with not only deciding what career they want to enter in the future, but also deciding how much schooling, emotional strain and debt they are willing to take on for that job.
“One day, I was putting up dishes and I started thinking to myself ‘what should I do when I graduate?’ I was between chemistry, atmospheric sciences and meteorology, and I thought to myself why should I choose one when I can have both.” Aleyah Brown, West junior said.
Considering the indecisiveness of most teenagers, and the unknown circumstances of their future, when youth are tasked with choosing a career they tend to overlook jobs that would actually encompass their passions and skills, and they instead focus on a less self-realistic career. This is especially seen in careers with high salaries.
“Professional and managerial occupations ranked the highest and unskilled manual laboring occupations the lowest… The respondents were asked the main reason they had ranked the occupations as they did, and income was the most commonly given reason.” Economist William Darity Jr, said.
Because wealth is such a constant need in this world, teens are discouraged from following their dreams if they will not, ‘pay the bills’. This only further discourages youth from choosing a career that they would genuinely enjoy, as salary becomes a factor that is constantly reeling in their mind when researching careers.
“When I was younger I really wanted to be a doctor, but once I got to high school I thought maybe not, and I decided on political science. My parents put pressure on me to decide what I wanted to do, because they do not want me to struggle financially. But in the same breath, I want to do something that I am passionate for. While I do understand that doctors make more money, my parents have very high expectations for my career choice. So, even if I really want to do one career they might pressure me to do something else for money.” Sydney White, West junior said.
Many young adults later regret their career choice, especially if the job requires a rigorous or lengthy education. Despite the engrossing wealth that comes with most high paying careers, the education for those jobs can be emotionally and monetarily taxing. Because of this, drive is an extremely important trait to have when entering the workforce. So, if a young person makes a spur of the moment decision to enter a career that they are not passionate for, then they will end up even more behind than their peers by the time they find the ‘perfect’ career for themselves, which contradicts the entire point of choosing a career while young.
“She has already changed her major twice and will need an additional semester to earn her bachelor’s degree. Sarah feels she has made poor choices… and worries that she will be unable to find a job after graduating.” Author Barbara Schneider, said.
Those students that become burnt-out when studying for a career are left questioning their own intelligence. Self-deprecation like this can intertwine with the lack of passion and fulfillment that is necessary for a life-long career.
“Look, our parents had it easier in one way. Their playbook was simple: education, 40-year career, retire at 65, done by 75. That math doesn’t work anymore. ” Writer Chip Conley, said.
Speaking of career longevity, the notion that a person is supposed to choose one career to follow for the rest of their life is mind-boggling. Most people wouldn’t even want to partake in their favorite hobby for five days a week, every single week of the year, and asking young people to picture themselves doing this in a job is illogical.
Anyone that has ever interacted with a teenager could acknowledge their general indecisiveness. Yet somehow, youth are still being pressured to picture themselves being put into a box that categorizes them into some broad career and then ships them through countless checkpoints of education for an outcome that they are not even greatly partial to, leading to dissatisfaction as they age in their role.
The adults in teenagers’ lives get so stuck on the idea that a young person ‘may’ want to pursue their favorite hobby, or that they ‘may’ love some class so much that they want it to become their career, but at the end of the day, ‘maybes’ are not realities. Young people’s minds are ever-changing, and If a young person wants to be a lawyer on Monday and a firefighter by Friday, then maybe they shouldn’t be asked what they want to do on a Wednesday.
