Here’s Why It’s So Important to Expose Your Kids to Different Career Paths

summer learning

It seems like it happens almost overnight. One day, your high schooler is taking a variety of different subjects and dreaming in vague terms about the future. The next day, they’re selecting a major and declaring their future career plans on college applications. If they’re anything like I was, they probably won’t exactly feel like they’re making a fully informed decision. That is, unless they’ve been exposed to a variety of options. But besides simply helping them craft more convincing answers on college apps and pick their major with confidence, exposing your kids to different career paths has a host of other benefits.

At the Enrichery, we’ve seen the benefits of early career exposure first hand, and that’s exactly why we’ve developed our Education for the Future Summer Series. Your child will choose from four class options – Future Lawyers, Future Writers, Future Engineers, and Future Doctors – and meet three times a week for two weeks. In their chosen class, they’ll learn the fundamentals of the career path while completing a capstone project. All curriculums are tailored for grades 6 through 12, and classes can be taken online or in-person at our office. This is the perfect way for your child to dip their toes in the field they’re interested in, and it will give them the knowledge and experience to start planning ahead. Enroll today!

Career exploration can help your child excel academically.

Even the most motivated, organized, hardworking students have moments of academic apathy. I’ve never met a high school student who hasn’t, at least once, thought, “Why the heck am I learning this?” or “Will these grades actually matter?” Students who have been exposed to potential career paths have a better ability to make the connection between schoolwork and their future career, making those moments of apathy fewer and farther between. When they see firsthand what working hard in school can lead them to, they’re more willing to work hard! Additionally, the skills and wisdom they pick up simply by learning about different careers can give them a leg up in school.

Being exposed to potential future careers can help them aim higher and set bigger goals.

Anyone who has ever set a new goal knows how important it is to be specific. For example, setting a goal to “become more athletic” is a lot harder to achieve than setting a goal to run a half marathon in under two hours. For the latter, you have a clear-cut final goal, which allows you to make a step-by-step action plan. This exact same mentality is true when it comes to academics: a high schooler who absolutely knows they want to go to medical school and become a doctor is much more likely to enroll in AP Chemistry and AP Biology than a high schooler with no specific ambition. Exposing your child to different careers can help them form these goals, which will motivate them to take the gutsy, single-minded steps to get there.

Having a future career in mind can help your child use their time as valuably and efficiently as possible.

There are two types of students on the first day of college: the ones who know exactly what they want to major in and what they want to do with it, and the ones who are crossing their fingers that they’ll figure it out. While both paths can lead to success, there’s something to be said about for those students who don’t waste any time. If your child has been exposed to several fields and has ultimately set their sights on one, they’ll be less likely to change majors last minute or flip flop jobs out of college. They’ll be able to network throughout college, or head straight into grad school without missing a beat.

This exposure also gives them a “WHY,” and serves as a major motivator.

We’ve already touched on this, but your child simply having an ultimate goal in the back of their mind is in invaluable driver through high school, college, and beyond. That 6 a.m. wakeup call to start studying is more palatable if they know, long term, why they’re doing it. Signing up for a particularly rigorous course load feels much more worth it when they have that overarching dream pushing them forward.

The only way they can dream that dream in the first place is by giving them exposure to all of the possibilities.

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