Episode: 28-make-students-career-ready,-period

Tease: For the sake of today’s younger generations, we must ditch the college-then-career narrative. It’s not the only way to win. Stay tuned for more coming up next.

Ep 28 show:

Hello, and welcome to the Perna Syndicate – I’m Mark C. Perna. If you know me, you know I’m passionate about every young person following their career dream. I believe young people should look at ALL their options and invest wisely and purposefully in their further education. College can be the perfect route for some, but it’s not the right choice for everyone. So why is going to college the default advice we give to every high schooler? 

It seems like every high school in America has a single goal for their students: to be college and career ready. Unfortunately, most people interpret that as being college then career ready. In other words, they assume college comes first, and then—and only then—comes career.

But that’s not really what “college and career ready” means. Instead, students should graduate high school and pursue the postsecondary path that is right for them. Regardless of societal pressures – it doesn’t have to be a college-then-career progression. 

Entering or training for a viable, living-wage profession immediately after high school is also a legitimate choice—and one that should be on the table. College may play into a young person’s plan later, but it doesn’t have to. It’s all about where they want to go in their life and how they can most effectively get there.

Georgetown University reports that 65% of all jobs today require some form of postsecondary education. But that’s not just college; it’s lots of different things, including apprenticeships and industry training programs. We’ll talk more about these options on the next show. But the bottom line is this: we need to make students career ready—period.

Do you have a comment or question on this episode? I’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with me at MarkCPerna.com.