June 13, 2010

Career Interests of High School Students

What do High School students want to be when they grow up?  Are their career goals realistic?   It seems that most high school students are expected to go to college and I wonder if the career expectations of teenagers are practical.   The company RIGID conducted a survey of about 1000 high school students nationwide and asked what their career path was.   The article mostly focuses on the skilled trades but they also list the other career paths that students favored.

Career field of interest among High School students:

25% - computers or the Internet
16% - business
15% - engineering
15% - healthcare, defined as doctors, nurses, assistants, technicians
15% - the entertainment/arts field, defined as actor, musician, TV anchor, reporter, producer
6% - skilled trades
that leaves about 8% unaccounted for who I assume had various other interests.

There are a lot of high school students looking to get into good fields.   However I see some problems here.   It seems that most students want to go into some form of professional field and there simply aren't enough jobs out their to support 40% of the population working in computers and engineering.    There are too few people interested in going into skilled trades.   There are far too many students who are interested in an entertainment or arts field. 

I certainly think students should pursue an career that interests them.   However I think that everyone should have practical and realistic expectations about career potential.

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