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Chart Your Future. One of the strongest motivators for success in education is having a career plan. Studies conducted by organizations such as ACT state that only 34% of students graduate from high school ready for college. Most students struggle with vocational decisions. This has been cited by numerous studies as the top concern of high school students and young adults.
Career exploration needs to be aligned with future opportunities and the way today’s students think. Today’s students have not just changed incrementally from those of the past, nor simply changed their slang, clothes, body adornments, or styles, as has happened between generations previously. A really big discontinuity has taken place.
It is the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century. Today’s students — kindergarten through college — represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading. Playing video games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives. It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.
Parents Wanted. Parents are a powerful influence and need to be involved. Research continues to suggest that parents need assistance in helping their child choose a career path. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers confirmed parents most heavily influence career choices. Yet, few resources are available to help parents understand and fulfill their roles in their children’s career decision-making process.
Approximately 2.9 million students are starting their post-secondary educations this year, and with rare exceptions, they are nervous about the future. Students are wondering just what they are going to do with their degrees upon graduation. Now is the time to understand how to think strategically about the future.