I Wanna Be a Rock Star
What else would a teenager want to be???
The school curriculum has transformed the educational experience of many students and their families, not always for the better. It’s been a boon for tutors and learning centres and caused more than a few students to reassess their academic strengths and goals.
One area of the curriculum that isn’t always entirely evident to parents relates to career education and expectations. The curriculum guidelines introduced by the Ministry of Education make it explicitly clear that students must have well defined career goals and academic and experiential strategies for achieving them by the end of Grade 10.
As someone who’s had the privilege of talking to thousands of secondary and post-secondary students about academic planning and career development, it’s hard not to wonder if the wizards who developed the career education component of the new curriculum have ever talked to young people.
My experience would suggest that most teenagers don’t dwell too much on the issue of career direction. They already know what they want to be. Rock and roll or movie stars, NFL quarterbacks, skateboard heroes (handsomely sponsored, of course), social media influencers or rich people (and that’s lottery winners, not hard workers) pretty much head the list. Seems about right to me!
How can students who possess the limited work and life experience of most new teenagers make thoughtful career choices? Doesn’t your experience tell you that decisions about career and learning directions require at least a modicum of insight gained from trying different activities, understanding what you enjoy, do well and find meaningful? Career theory may sound good but putting into practice isn’t always easy.
That’s not to say that young people don’t need to begin working at acquiring some of the kinds of experience that can inform the important decisions they will have to make as they move through the educational system. The reality that faces most students and their families is that sometime early in Grade 12 they will be required to apply not just for post-secondary studies but to specific programs at specific schools.
The choices they make are critical and often shape what happens for many years beyond the end of their educations. And few parents need any reminder that the choices come with costs attached. Most universities are quick to inform parents and prospective students that a degree usually comes with a minimum $50,000 price tag. Making good decisions is imperative for so many reasons.
So what’s a poor student to do in the face of almost irresistible pressure to pursue post-secondary education at a very young age? Upon what reliable foundation can sound choices be based? Those aren’t easy questions and are made more complicated by the fact that our education system demands closure about future directions of students who are younger and less experienced than ever before.
There are, however, some steps that students and families can take to help guide good educational and career planning. There are experiences in the community that entrepreneurial young people can seek out, co-operative learning opportunities, interesting and challenging work possibilities, exchange programs in growing numbers and personality and interest indicators that can provide the kind of information that supports confident decision making. More about these in the near future.
