Myth 1 That you can know what field you are going to be working in. A recent BBC report cites the 2011 report from UK’s Office for National Statistics, which asked a sample of 16-21 year olds what work they would like to do as adults. Six years later, when they checked back, only 1 in 50 were working in the career that they had wished for! It’s completely understandable, really - never having had full-time jobs, and in a period of rapid social and personal change, it would be surprising if teenagers did know what they find fulfilling.
There are many myths about educational choices. Maybe they were once true, but no longer. source |
Myth 2 What you choose now determines your career. Here is some compelling evidence that all careers, these days, are open to all backgrounds. Of course, some trajectories are more linear than others; is true, for example, that most doctors have studied at least two sciences. But not all, and I know one of our alum - now a Professor of Otolaryngology - who started as a nurse. So while it’s not a case of anything goes, there’s no need to feel that choices made now are limiting.
Myth 3 As far as careers go, tech is the future. With Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Uber, Amazon and other tech companies being media favourites, this belief seems to be implicit everywhere - perhaps as we get so much of our news through technological means. The pace of technological change isn't going to slow down anytime soon, so of course, there are many fabulous careers in tech to be had. But there are other options and not everyone needs to be an engineer or code. In her recent article The Most Unexpected Workplace Trend Coming in 2020: the Return of the Liberal Arts Major Journalist Jessica Stillman notes that ‘a host of experts are arguing that liberal arts majors are about to make a major rebound’. Stillman notes two main reasons:
- ‘AI will automate technical skills ... while there's been such a focus on recruiting STEM over the past several years, those majors will continue to lose relevance, while liberal arts majors will become more valuable to companies moving forward." (note this McKinsey report that concluded liberal arts skills are the least likely to be automated - hence the rise of STEAM (Stem +Arts) and STHEAM (STEAM+ Humanities)).
- Even tech companies are looking for soft skills: Google itself, for example, reports that among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM expertise comes in dead last. These qualities are: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; being able to make connections across complex ideas; STEM expertise. Seven of these eight skills can be learnt at least as well, perhaps better, in non-technical courses. This excellent BBC article explores this important point further.
Myth 4 You cannot make a living after Liberal Arts. In a recent New York Times article, Social Policy Director David Deming reports that while STEM majors earn more than history and social science majors immediately after graduation, that this is reversed for those 20 years later (interestingly, there were gender disparities here, with women in STEM earning, on average, significantly more than those not). Overall, if this is a concern, do look at the data - it is reassuring for those whose interests lie in the liberal arts areas.
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Each year we hear so many students and families say 'we have heard...' followed by what is often not supported by the facts. Although career paths are not fixed, there’s no reason not to take these choices seriously and to rely on rumour. So please do read around; do ask University advisors, and here’s a good place to start with a few links: Choosing your future - be sure to make informed choices.
References
- Couglan, S. (2018) How do career dreams really work out? Bbc.com
- Deming, D. (2019) In the Salary Race, Engineers Spring but English Majors Endure New York Times
- Perrault, T (2016) Digital Companies Need More Liberal Arts Majors. Harvard Business Review
- Ruggeri, A (2019) Why ‘worthless’ humanities degrees may set you up for life. bbc.com
- Stillman, J (2019) The Most Unexpected Workplace Trend Coming in 2020: the Return of the Liberal Arts Major. Inc.com
- Strauss, V. (2017) The surprising thing Google learnt about its employees – and what it means for today’s students. Aristotle.com
Although I would hesitate to recommend Steve Jobs as an entrepreneurial role model, his willingness to bring imagination from the arts to computing is relevant here. Yes, many career paths are non-linear, some have extreme zig zags ... sometimes experiences that give the individual a rounded or (sometimes) unique perspective.
ReplyDelete"Part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world…We all brought to this effort a very liberal arts attitude that we wanted to pull in the best of what we saw in these other fields into this field. I don’t think you get that if you’re very narrow." Steve Jobs
Awesome write Nick😊
ReplyDeleteSimply put, yet significant. Very very reassuring.
As a parent with all my kids leaning towards the less travelled path,
We were already yes to our kids choice, as their heart and happiness lied there. With this compelling evidence,those yeses seem very wise💕
Thank you