Working Life and School Choices: 4 Myths

My first full-time job was as a computer programmer, and I learnt a great deal doing it – largely that I did not want to be a computer programmer. I next tried the actuarial profession, with similar lessons. Ending up in education has, for the time being, worked out – but I never planned for it and would have scoffed at the idea when at school. These experiences are very much in my mind as we approach subject choice time for our Grade 8 and 10 students, who will shortly be choosing their Grade 9 IGCSE subjects, and their Grade 11 IBDP subjects. These are important decisions, as they determine what the students will be studying for a number of years – but each year we hear a lot of anxiety that the choices are in some way life-defining. If they were, and these choices were to reverberate for decades over a lifetime, then this anxiety would be understandable. But they are not, and I write to dispel a few myths.

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.

So we need to remember that we can end up in tech from elsewhere; that is, even for the techies, let’s go from Tech is The Future to tech is one of many possible futures.

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.

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