Wow school has changed since I attended high school! I wish back in my day, 1999-2003, teachers taught college and career readiness. Don’t get me wrong they prepared me for college, but they didn’t they didn’t exactly prepare me for picking a career while in college. In today’s high school 9th grade curriculum, we teach students the value of a college education and if college is worth the cost depending on what you study and the job you get afterwards. So basically we teach students to go collaborate to school and study a degree in which you can come out, find a job and make money right away to pay your student loans back.
I know this sounds intense and not like a typical teachers job but we do read scholarly articles and perform close readings of them to answer discussion questions and ultimately write a persuasive essay on which they have to support their claim for “is college worth it?” So again I want to reiterate the fact that I work in a title 1 School, which means 90% or more are considered low-income/free lunch. This has nothing to do with academics or career choices but I do believe coming from low-income cities makes students think they can get rich quick without having to do any work.
Every year I ask students to research two careers using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to look at potential careers, their salary, the job criteria and the amount of schooling/trainings needed. Each time I’m faced with the same type of students who think they will be drafted and play some type of professional sport and make millions. Right now the new craze is becoming a YouTuber. You heard that right they want to make money from the videos they post online. While that’s not impossible it’s also considered a get rich quick tactic.
So let me ask you a question do I crush their dreams and let them know that those are not real careers and the probability of them actually succeeding is less than 1%. Or do I let them dream and face the harsh reality once they hit their senior year or college and realize they put all their eggs in one hypothetical basket?