School-to-Career Blog 050306

The views expressed here are Chris' and are not necessarily the same as the Wake County Public School System.

Career plans by age 12? Maybe in Florida: The state could be the first in the nation to require intensive career education for middle-schoolers. Christian Science Monitor

Article Highlights

"As part of Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to reform the state's schools, an intensive study of careers would become mandatory for middle-schoolers"

"We're looking to ... better prepare students for the future and for postsecondary education," Bush said earlier this year in a lecture at Stanford University in California. "The goal is for students to graduate knowing what they want to do with their lives."

"... supporters of the proposal say it gives kids a taste of the real world and encourages them to widen, not narrow, their sense of career options. Supporters also say the program demonstrates the state's commitment to middle-schoolers."

"It's good if it gives them exposure to occupations and a greater range of career options," says Mr. Cunningham. "But my daughters both think this is too early to be deciding anything."

Chris' thoughts -

This Florida plan would be the equivalent of Wake County requiring all of our middle school students to take the Exploring Career Decisions course. I would not be opposed to this. I think that middle school is the best time to start exposing students to the world of work. It is assumed that each of our students will someday need a job or some other way of earning an income, so it makes sense to me to require career education.

We are not asking for middle school students to pick the career they will ultimately end up with, but with the labor market changing as fast as it is, it is essential that our students know about careers, and starting at middle school is not too early. A middle school career education program is not about having our early teens pick a career, it's about learning what a job is, and the commonalities and differences found among jobs. It's also about exploring career pathways so the kids can see how careers are clustered around various industries. This could lead to students picking high school elective classes in order to try out career pathways before they make the final decision on a career.

Career education in the middle grades is also about learning that employers expect you to show up on time, just like in school. It's about learning that there is a certain way to dress, talk, and act, and that it varies among jobs. This is just like dressing for PE, or the different voice children use on the playground verses the classroom. We are already teaching a lot about careers; we just need to let them know that.

Knowing that the skills learned in school will actually be used on the job might just get our kids to pay attention and do better in classes that just don't excite them. This could lead to more committed high school students who have a sense of purpose to do well in school.

Well, at least that's what I'm thinking!

Chris Droessler

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