What is your plan after high school? Are you going to college? What are you going to major in? All of these questions are what we students are expected to answer once we reach highschool. How are we supposed to have our life figured out at the age of 18? Half of us are still figuring out who we are and what we like and dislike. So, how can we accurately make post secondary plans that we know we will stick with forever? 

If you asked me what I wanted to do after highschool while I was a freshman, I would have said something about business management. Now in 12th grade, I am going to school for nursing; however, I did think about teaching at one point. Just in a matter of 4 years I somehow figured that nursing is what I want to do, but how can I be so sure? Our plans change so fast, so how are we positive that these plans will not change again? 

According to Zippia The Career Expert, “the average age that most employees make a major career change is 39 years old.” Most people do not even make it to 45 before they realize that they are not happy in their selected career choices. Some may think that they do this for money, but, “58% of people surveyed by Indeed said that they would be willing to take a pay cut to make a major career change.” I do not want to be so unhappy in life, that I am willing to lose money for it. This is why teenagers should not be expected to make these decisions that will shift and craft our lives. 

We are always asked questions about what we want to do after we graduate, but that just puts pressure on us to find an answer that we may not feel completely comfortable with. If we make the wrong choice, then we will be dissatisfied with our lives for a long time because we are working and doing something unenjoyable.

At the age of 18, we are just gaining freedom to explore the world without our parents being there for our every move. We are so used to being told what to do until the age of 18, that when reality sinks in and we realize that we are on our own in our career choice, we panic and start to have doubts. My close friend always dreamed of being a teacher since elementary school. Now, they do not want to follow through with this idea anymore because they are just unsure of it. 

Yeah, some of us know exactly what we want to do in life, but how are we sure that we are going to be happy for all of these years to come? 

The world puts too much pressure on highschoolers to have their lives all mapped out. We are still young, and have a lot of life ahead of us. Who knows what changes will happen in our lives or how happy we will actually be with the career choice we start off with. Let’s stop pressuring our teenagers and instead support and be there for them. Tell us it is okay to not have life figured out and that you are here to help us explore and grow.  

Work Consulted

Boskamp, Elsie. “21 Career Change Statistics [2022]: How Often Do People Change Jobs? – Zippia.” Zippia, 17 January 2022, zippia.com/advice/career-change-statistics/. Accessed 6 May 2022.