HIGHER EDUCATIONAL AND CAREER CHOICES:Here is some honest, non-monetized post, non-A.I. Advice
HIGHER EDUCATIONAL AND CAREER CHOICES:
Here is some honest, non-monetized post, non-A.I. Advice
by Bill Knell
Your in your first year of High School. You suddenly realize, or are made to realize, that you need to make higher educational and career choices now so that you can begin choosing subjects and activities that will boost your opportunities. Every guidance counselor, teacher, relative, friend and even people you don't know will have advice to give you.
Your parents want you to choose their alma mater, or a school they have meticulously researched and believe is the only wise choice. Your significant other to be wants you to attend their school choice so you can be with them. Your Progressive leaning teachers tell you to make educational choices that will help you tell others about Climate Change or Social Injustices (When's the last time they paid a Carbon Tax, or took part in a rally to get the Conservative Devils out of political office?). Your Conservative leaning teachers encourage you to attend schools that will help you to do something about the Progressive Losers.
Your shop teacher tells his class that most college graduates can't find jobs these days, so go to a trade school, join a Union and make lots of money right after your graduation. If you go to church, your pastor or church leaders probably have there own two cents to throw in the pot. Then there are the influencers and pundits.
Everytime you go online you are assaulted by people that give you ‘’Seven Reasons To…” that will change or improve your life, when what they really want is for you to visit their monetized posts. Political and social pundits are everywhere… TV, cable, print and online. They can't wait to give you advice and get you excited by the hot topic du jour so you'll keep listening to or watching them and tell everyone you know to check them out.
Let me catch my breath… there, that's better!
Been there, done that. It's maddening. We live in a day when Too Much Information and entertainment has become a way of life. People get addicted to influencers, games, dating sites and porn. These addictions make people less decisive and more confused. If that's you, take a break if you can and clean your brain. If you can't, you have a serious addiction and need help.
I was in a unique self employment situation starting in Junior High. It was easy for me to plan my future and choose schools that would enhance that situation. I still had all the pressure to be someone other than who I was for the reasons those who gave me unsolicited advice provided. My high school guidance counselor kept getting on me to make a life career choice that I had already made. When I broke my own rule and told her how much I was making, she stopped advising and pressuring me.
One of my relatives by marriage is a good example of why you need to make sensible and realistic decisions about your future. He graduated high school in the mid 1970s. His father was a brilliant scientist who worked for the well known and prestigious Bell Labs in New Jersey. He was also smart, but decided to start school with a general Liberal Arts program, as many do, until making a final decision. During that time he fell into two traps that often capture young minds.
He met a girl he really liked. She convinced him to major in Ancient Arab Poetry (really, I'm not joking) so they could stay close. She often needed help with her classwork and he was right there for her. As soon as they got their bachelor degrees, she took off with anothet guy she was seeing all along.
BTW… Be smart. Check popular dating sites and look for a photo of your guy or girl before listening to their school or career advice.
Faced with an uncertain future, the scholar with an almost useless degree fell in with the “stay in school” academics which included students and teachers. Most of the students lived off government grants and student loans. They had no plans to leave school and told him that if he got his Master's he could teach. Having gone that far he went further and racked up an obscene amount of student loan debt. Once he had his Master's, he was faced with the eye opening fact that few, if any, schools were looking for Ancient Arab Poetry faculty members.
Many of these students still lived at home when they weren't at school and drove cars provided by parents or other relatives. That was his situation. They never had to pay mortgages, rents, car payments, insurance or utility bills. Their schools had done little to prepare them for real life.
When considering life choices it's important to keep in mind that it's wise to use education as a tool to reach your final goals. Never stay in school because you feel comfortable in that culture, otherwise you'll wake up one day and find yourself too old to fit in with most of the student body. It would be ridiculous to end up as a teaching assistant when you should be working at a normal full time job.
Be realistic in your choices. You can always pursue subjects that you love (but offer few job choices) later as a hobby. Find a solid career that you can be passionate about and research the daykights out of it. Be sure it's a wise choice, that you'll be employable and that it will offer the kind of pay that will allow you to live your life the way you want.
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