The Next Step
June 19th, 2008 at 03:58pm Larry Messing
A comment you hear from many in this community is that our youth are not getting the proper training for the jobs that they want, thus we end up with a weak hiring pool.
There are a number of ideas of the root causes of this problem ranging from bad parenting to the lack of support in schools and everything in between. In the meantime, we continue to suffer from students simply not being prepared.
As I have recently been getting ready to send one of mine off to college in a year, it has occurred to me that, perhaps, one of the big reasons our youth have this issue is because their future is so big. What is a next step? It’s like trying to get from Rockford to Anchorage without knowing which way to pull out of your driveway.
We need to work with our youth to let them know what that NEXT step is. It’ll be different for everyone. Is it getting an idea of what kinds of careers appeal to you? Is it learning how to compare schools? Or is it just doing everything in your power to ensure you are in school each and every day.
The next step is the big one. You’re not going to get any further without that one. The final destination is almost impossible to see with each step blocking the view. Like dominoes, as each one falls, the pathway becomes clearer.
Entry Filed under: workforce readinesss, Junior Achievement
2 Comments Add your own
1. Leatherneck | June 19th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
We have wasted money and resources on so-called “career exploration”. Bringing in a banker on “career day” to talk to a class of bored kids is not effective.
1. Being “Employable”. We can all agree with the old saying that “80% of success is showing up” . Being employable means showing up every day and on time. Period. Teachers: drive this point home again and again to your students. Tell them that you as an adult cannot cannot call in every 3 days or go sit at the mall or in the school library, when you are supposed to be at work, teaching. Ask students how they would like it if you as a teacher showed up a half hour late and let them stand in the hall while your room is locked and you aren’t there dependably. Administrators: hold the line on consequences. Stop giving students multiple chances to straighten out. After 3 strikes, if you catch them skipping, throw their ass out for good. If they come back on school grounds, arrest them for loitering.
2. Employability= appearance. We wouldn’t trust a doctor or an investment banker who looks like a walking freak show, so why do we accept that in high schoolers? Employers are not going take a risk on hiring somebody who looks ridiculous or high risk. So…no more earrings, nose-rings, lip rings, or baggy pants. You will wear a belt. White boys: no more shaggy hair. Hair will be cut so you can see their eyes and eyebrows and touching the back of the collar. Black boys: No more braids or wild Afros that you could hide a small appliance in. You will cut your hair short like Barack Obama wears his. Girls: No more slutty low cut shirts that show the small of your back or your midriff. Dress with dignity.
3. We need to be honest about the nature of work. A person’s job is not always going to be exciting, stimulating and “hands on”. Hell there are some days that it will be downright boring and your job will feel like drudgery. But that is just a fact of life in the real world. You do what you gotta do for the paycheck. We need to stop sugarcoating it. Most people don’t love their job. Those who do are lucky. If everybody actually got to be what they WANTED to be when they grew up, we’d have a world full of ballerinas, firemen, rappers and NBA players.
When the students have attendance, attitude and appearance, then and only then can we train them in a skill. Until then, we are not preparing them for the “real world” of work. Thanks for your time.
2. Larry Messing | June 23rd, 2008 at 9:11 am
Thanks for the comment. I agree with all your comments, but I wonder how many doctors looked like “freak shows” in their younger days. The youth of any generation always seem to march to the beat of their own drummer when it comes to their appearance. I’m not sure that’s always a bad thing.
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