<p>Our school doesn't really do much about any of this. </p>
<p>However, I don't know that a school needs to do much with career assessment but I do think there should be attention paid to career discovery and exposure and some individual discussions or counseling about future directions. I do not think a junior or senior in high school needs to know what he or she will major in at college. But it helps to have some sort of general "direction". A liberal arts education will help with further discovery. But it might help to have some general ideas so that the student picks colleges where these areas can be explored further. </p>
<p>I have one child who has known what she has wanted for a profession since nursery school and has never wavered. She is indeed pursuing it in college right now and entered a program for it where a commitment is required ahead of time as you apply directly to the program. This is not necessary for all kids. In fact, for some professions, kids are not exposed to the field until college because it is not a subject they take in their schooling up until that point. In HER case, her field WAS something she had been exposed to and was doing all through her youth, enough to know she was ready to commit to it. Her field is Musical Theater. </p>
<p>However, that is not the case with my other child, also now in college. She had no "I always wanted to be a _____." With her, we were involved in dicussions of her strengths and interests and what the possible fields were that she could explore that might fit those interests or strengths. This did not come from the school. She always exceled at math and science, though frankly is so well rounded that she was good at all the other subjects and liked those as well. I recall in tenth grade, she opted to shadow a scientist in a lab. She realized afterwards that that was not for her. It was just for one day but was worthwhile. At some point, starting junior year, we discussed engineering and architecture. We were starting to look into colleges and so just reading about the programs made those fields more explored. Initially, she looked into colleges that had these two offerings and visited departments in each field on our first college visits in fall of junior year. She started leaning more toward architecture after these visits, and eventually ruled out engineering. Also architecture seemed to fit her in that it is interdisiciplinary in nature and combined lots of things she liked or was good at.....math, creativity, problem solving, history/culture, etc. Because we were involved with our kid and we have a good relationship with the guidance counselor, we even discussed it with him a bit with our child and planned her junior year schedule to do an indpendent study with a faculty advisor to explore architecture...drafting, mechanical drawing, and AutoCad. The idea was to try it out a bit as it was not a school subject. She liked it. Then the summer after junior year, she was home for a few weeks, and decided well ahead of time, to contact local architects to see if she could do an internship and she got positive replies and did one. The architect actually gave her real architectural work to do. Again, she saw what architects do first hand, and also got to do some of the work herself. Again, she liked it. She decided to apply to colleges that offered this major but with no commitment yet to major in it. She opted not to apply to five year BArch programs as they do require a commitment when applying and she was not yet ready to make that commitment because again, this is not a subject you really study or do much with prior to college, enough to know for certain, or at least in her case. She also wanted liberal arts and not to have a majority of her coursework in a specialized area and decided for her. She opted to apply to colleges with liberal arts pre-architecture type majors. Now, she is a soph in college and is declaring Architectural Studies as her major with the intent of going to grad school for a MArch degree. So, her earlier exploration did turn into a decision to go into this field but not a firm one until in college after doing more courses in the field, plus a summer intensive the summer after freshman year at Harvard Graduate School of Design, which was appropriately named, Career Discovery Program. </p>
<p>So, I think that parents might have to do this work, if the school doesn't. But it is a process of discussing their interests and skills, exploring what careers fit that....observing others in the field, trying out the field....indep. studies, internships, and the like. I don't think a kid needs to commit to a major before college but it does help to have some direction, enough to find colleges that offer those majors in case the intended direction does become a major later on. And for some, they may enter a field directly, that they KNOW they want to do or have done things in that area for a while. </p>
<p>It is funny because I interviewed a student for admissions yesterday and when I asked if he had any possible career or academic interest and how that developed, it reminded me of my older D's process with architecture. He told me about discussing this with his parents (both who are doctors) and how he landed on Economics, and how it started with his skills and interests and what you could do with those. So, I urge parents to start talking to their kids about such things by junior year. No commitments needed. However, the next step might be to see about ways to explore those fields some more....shadow someone...take a course....do an internship, write a paper on the topic, visit college departments in that field and see what you think. A school could offer career panels, bringing in alum....that is another form of exposure.</p>
<p>Susan</p>