Earlier generations of Americans didn’t have to give much thought to careers until they approached high school graduation, perhaps even later than that, “undeclared” being a common college major.
In that earlier time, there was no real cost associated with that approach: Whatever skills were required of a job could be easily and quickly taught by the employer.
It is far different today, of course. A student who has not aligned his or her education with the demands of the career they intend to pursue is at a distinct disadvantage.
This week, eighth-grade students from 17 north Mississippi counties will attend the CREATE Foundation’s “Imagine the Possibilities” career expo, held over three days at the BancorpSouth Arena, where they are being exposed to more than 130 businesses and 16 different career pathways — everything from engineering to medical to finance to distribution.
For some, the event exposed them to careers they didn’t even know existed. For others, it provided a better understanding of the skills, training and education required for a specific job.
For all, it was an opportunity to draw a direct link between the education they are receiving and the doors that education will open.
No doubt, the expo was particularly revealing to students from poor families, who might have never have been exposed to the broad range of career options that await them. Too often, the poorer the child, the smaller their world. These are children who have never been to an airport, never set foot in a modern factory or gone behind the scenes to see what it is that an engineer or an architect actually does and the skills he relies on to do the job — skills learned in school.
Events such as this week’s career expo are a vital part of a child’s education. Get a child excited about something, make her aware of the possibilities, give him a chance to see and touch the real tools of the modern working world and you have likely fired a child’s imagination and sent him on his way along a career path that will secure his future.
Today’s education system, recognizing the sweeping, evolving changes in the modern workplace, places a heavy emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math. For many students, especially younger students, the relationship between those disciplines and the practical world of work is obscured. Events such as this week’s career expo pull back that curtain; the work done in the classroom takes on a relevance that inspires better performance because children learn best what interests them most.
Not all schools have embraced these opportunities fully, however. Some are reluctant to sacrifice class time for these kinds of events, which we believe is short-sighted, even contrary to their mission.
These ventures out into the working world complement rather than compete with classroom studies.
We encourage all of our schools to take full advantage of these opportunities.
They are important because it’s never too early for a student to be thinking about the life she will lead as an adult.
But it can sometimes be too late.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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