Opinion
Federal Opinion

Why Is Career Planning a Low Priority in High Schools?

By John G. Bendt — May 12, 2008 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Today a majority of high school students spend little time and effort exploring and evaluating what they want to do when they enter their work lives. As a result, they have little understanding of the workplace, and no action plan to prepare for a happy and successful future.

It’s paradoxical that college-bound students and their parents put so much energy into selecting and gaining admission to a good college, yet give only minimal thought to such tasks as selecting a future occupation and learning the workplace skills required to compete in a global job market. Many students thus enter college with little direction and are naive about how the real world functions.

The 2006 report put out by the Conference Board, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Society for Human Resource Management, “Are They Really Ready To Work?,” found a disturbing trend developing in the United States: Many of today’s entry-level workers, even those with a four-year college degree, lack the critical workplace skills needed to succeed on the job. (The full report is available at www.conference-board.org.)

To reverse this trend, we need to raise the priority of career planning for high school students, so that many more will explore occupational interests and learn some of the skills, tools, and attitudes they will need to achieve success in their work lives. Huge rewards can be gained by students who become proactive career planners. Here are some considerations that students—and those who teach and counsel them—should keep in mind:

Work at something you love. Students who explore occupations are more likely to pursue a career path they will find interesting and fulfilling. They also learn which “hard” and “soft” skills are needed to achieve success in the occupation, and therefore are better able to plan their coursework to support potential career paths.

Develop marketable skills. Proactive career planners can use extracurricular activities and part-time jobs to build important workplace “soft” skills such as these: verbal and written communication, ability to listen and relate to co-workers, teamwork, problem-solving, ability to be organized and use time effectively, ability to plan, organize, and set priorities, and the ability to persuade and resolve conflicts.

They also will have opportunities to demonstrate such personal attributes as responsibility, dependability, strong work ethic, self-motivation, self-confidence, flexibility, adaptability, and the ability to work under pressure.

Get a head start. Students who practice these skills in their extracurricular activities and part-time jobs are able to develop a résumé and portfolio of letters of recommendation that will greatly enhance their credentials and their chances of winning admission to college. They will also gain a head start in building skill advantages that are important to employers, thereby positioning themselves to win the job they want when they enter their work lives.

Bring occupations to life. Exploration of occupations also provides opportunities for students to interview adults working in the field. These contacts can lead to valuable mentor relationships, which can provide the student practical career advice and also help him or her in the complicated process of “growing up.”

Given the benefits, shouldn’t career planning have a higher priority in high school?

Save money. Proactive career planning can help college-bound students greatly reduce the possibility of requiring extra time to complete a four-year degree. The incremental cost of taking an additional year to graduate is very significant when college costs and missed income are considered. For example, the College Board estimates that the average annual college cost for a public college in 2007 was $13,589 and for a private college, $32,307. Average starting salaries for business, engineering, and computer-science occupations in 2008 range from $43,459 to $63,749, according to JobWeb.com, a career-development and job-search-advice Web site for college graduates.

Requiring one additional year of college because of indecision about a career path can therefore create an average incremental cost ranging from $57,048 to $96,056, depending on whether one attends a public or private college and what one’s starting salary would be. This is a significant penalty to pay for indecision and false starts.

Given the benefits—and the potential price of not acting—shouldn’t career planning have a higher priority in high school? A collaborative effort by parents, counselors, and teachers is needed to coach and guide students, as they are unlikely to initiate action on their own. An effective career-planning program should help students learn how to identify career interests and follow a process to eventually select a career path. It should educate students about the role competition plays in the workplace and which skills are valued by employers. Lastly, it should coach students in how to learn and practice these skills, so that they are prepared to achieve success in their work lives.

Parents should play the leading role in encouraging and guiding their children’s career-planning activities. School counselors should support both parents and students by educating them about the process, and pointing them to tools the school may provide to achieve program objectives such as those discussed here. Teachers can support students by incorporating the use of applied skills in the curriculum, and by encouraging them to explore careers related to the subjects they teach.

Working together, we can make a big difference in how high school students prepare for their future. We all spend a great amount of our lifetimes in our jobs. What could be better than to help our children find and be successful at a job they love to do?

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Federal Webinar Navigating the Rapid Pace of Education Policy Change: Your Questions, Answered
Join this free webinar to gain an understanding of key education policy developments affecting K-12 schools.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Trump to Schools: Banish 'Equity Ideology' in Discipline
Trump’s latest action continues to take aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
8 min read
President Donald Trump signs an executive order regarding education in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon watch.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order regarding education in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon watch.
Alex Brandon/AP
Federal Viral AI Gaffe and Ed. Dept. Cuts: How Educators View Linda McMahon So Far
Here's what educators think about the education secretary's performance so far.
6 min read
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at the ASU+GSV Summit at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on April 8, 2025.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks at the ASU+GSV Summit at the Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego on April 8, 2025.
Ariana Drehsler for Education Week
Federal Inside Trump's Full-Force Approach to Ban Trans Athletes and DEI in Schools
Trump’s return to the White House has brought a new era of aggressive investigations of entities that flout the president's orders.
8 min read
Education Secretary Linda McMahon accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The pair were announcing a lawsuit against the state of Maine over state policies that allow transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Letter to the Editor Public Education Benefits the American Worker and the American Economy
Our nation’s schools are central to our nation’s health and future, says this letter to the editor.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week