Over the years of working in a career that involved daily interaction with lots of people, I had the opportunity to interact with hundreds of teenagers and their parents. Inevitably, most conversations with high school students led to the question, “What are you going to do when you graduate?” or to the parent, “What is your son/daughter going to do after high school?” More often than not, they had no clue.
As graduation approached, many of these same young people quickly pulled together an answer to that question which typically involved going to the nearest state university and majoring in “business.” Obviously some of these had specific interest in business and a career path in mind, but for many it seemed that this was just a fallback plan when they had no idea what else to choose.
Several years ago I began to see other trends that were even more concerning. I don’t know if these were new trends, changing trends, or something that had been occurring for years. Maybe it was only more noticeable to me because my own daughter was now a teenager and would be facing some of these same questions herself.
- More and more high school students were disinterested in school and dropped out when they saw little benefit in continuing.
- Kids going off to college only to return within the year, or a couple years, with no degree and no real interest in returning
- Many of those who did manage to graduate with a degree ended up moving back in with Mom and Dad
- The lucky ones who were able to find jobs aren’t working in a career that is even related to what they went to college for.
It seemed young adults were having more and more difficulty finding a direction in life that created any level of success after high school. Sure, there were some that excelled. But plenty were struggling. (And this was before the economy tanked and unemployment skyrocketed so that isn’t a legitimate excuse.) I’m not convinced that it’s because our young people are inherently lazy, but who else is there to blame?
Ultimately, I realize teens make their own decisions about their life and have to live with the consequences. I certainly trust my daughters to make good choices, but it’s difficult to make good choices without sufficient information upon which to base those choices. I don’t know any teens, including my own, that have enough experience and awareness of all that is out there, and the pros and cons of choosing different paths, to make those kinds of decisions on their own. Their limited insight into any occupation seems largely based on what they learn from TV, pop music and other equally questionable sources.
Like any parent, I want to make sure I’m doing whatever I can to give my kids the best chance at success in life, but I’m a little uncertain what that role is suppose to be. At the time, I’m not sure I knew enough to really be much help making objective decisions either, as I only know about the career path I chose, and I know that my perspective on that is warped by having been too close to it for too long. I want my daughters to have the benefit of choosing from the broadest possible field of potential directions, so they can find something that matches their unique talents and interests. Not something that becomes just a job to pay the bills, but something they can be passionate about.
Not sure where to look for the answers, or even the questions, I turned to two old friends – Google and Barnes & Noble. And after many months of digging I started to figure out that there are some answers out there to be found. There is some good information and advice available. The problem is that it was buried. Deep. Really Deep.
How is it possible for a busy stressed out teen (or parent) to invest that much time digging around and piecing together answers. So I decided to start writing down my thoughts, questions, and discoveries with the hope that I might save someone else from having to do all the digging that I have done, as well as to get input and discussion from other people.