{"id":532,"date":"2014-03-12T13:12:46","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T17:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/?p=532"},"modified":"2014-12-15T12:30:27","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T17:30:27","slug":"look-i-can-see-your-breadth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/?p=532","title":{"rendered":"Look! I Can See Your Breadth!"},"content":{"rendered":"

An excerpt from Carpe College!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPassions are the gales of life.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n

– Alexander Pope<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you want to be when you grow up?<\/p>\n

Talk about pressure!\u00a0 You young people have been harangued and harassed without end about solidifying your future, locking something in, having a plan.\u00a0 Yet, ironically, you have grown up in a time when options are more vast and unpredictable than ever before, and you are (arguably) less prepared to make such choices than ever before.<\/p>\n

The Terrain.<\/b>\u00a0 Think on this\u2026.\u00a0\u00a0 When you were born, just under two decades ago, there was no Facebook <\/i>or Google<\/i> or YouTube<\/i> or Twitter<\/i> or iPhone <\/i>or drone aircraft or flat TVs or hybrid cars.\u00a0 There were CDs, but how quickly they came and went!\u00a0 That\u2019s the point \u2013 quickly.\u00a0 With technological advances, particularly in the way information is shared and the pace at which it is shared, new ideas and developments are emerging exponentially.\u00a0 And, on the heels of that, new career paths follow.\u00a0 You\u2019ve been told that your generation will probably switch jobs (and careers) far more frequently than previous generations, and your choices are more varied than ever.\u00a0 On the other hand, you\u2019ve had cursory career exploration assessments (of the standard, #2 pencil variety) since middle school, and you\u2019ve had helicopter parents as recently as\u2026 well\u2026maybe this morning. (Or my new favorite, \u201cCurling Parents,” who go on ahead of the child and sweep away any of the bad stuff to allow for a smooth ride.)\u00a0 Most of your \u2018exploration\u2019 has consisted of organized, orchestrated, and adult-officiated activities, leaving scant opportunity for you to truly explore whether you like the science lab more than the music studio or the soccer field.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>

Photo: Robert F. Bukaty\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

So, this is the zeitgeist (look it up).\u00a0 This is the landscape.\u00a0 Parents (and others) telling you to make up your mind, buckle down, and lock into a major that will garner you the most practical path to a career, but not enough experience to make a truly informed choice.\u00a0 You\u2019re not alone.\u00a0 Previous generations had similar decisions at your age.\u00a0 However, they\u2019ve never had the variety of choices to complicate those decisions.\u00a0 Moreover, most honest educators will share our dirty little secret:\u00a0 We have very little idea about what careers will look like in the next couple of decades.\u00a0 Sure, we\u2019ll need doctors.\u00a0 Sure, computers will be involved.\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, we\u2019ll always need accountants.\u00a0 (Prostitution?\u00a0 Sadly, there\u2019s one that seems to have some staying power.)\u00a0 But with the likes of Facebook<\/i> and YouTube <\/i>listed above, we\u2019ve seen a landscape that can be altered significantly in a very short period.\u00a0 Consider how quickly \u2018mobile apps\u2019 emerged and how young people are building entire professional lives creating and marketing them.\u00a0 Consider the push for sustainability and LEED certification of new buildings and the career paths that has spawned.\u00a0 On the other hand, when was the last time you met a tobacco farmer or a travel agent or newspaper person or music label who hasn\u2019t had the rug pulled out from under them because\u2026 well\u2026times change?<\/p>\n

Stealing a Strategy from Scouting.<\/b>\u00a0 This \u2018rug pulling\u2019 will probably continue at a quicker and more expanded clip in generations to come simply because changing technologies change what we need our humans to do and how they do it.\u00a0 Just think about what wonderful opportunities emerged from the invention of the printing press.\u00a0 How about the automobile?\u00a0 So, now we have the Internet.\u00a0 And, in your lifetime, we\u2019ll probably have something akin to vacations in space.\u00a0 Talk about cracking open the opportunities!<\/p>\n

So, what does that mean for a young person embarking on a college career and a professional life?\u00a0 It means it\u2019s time to steal from the Boy Scouts again:\u00a0 Be Prepared!\"images\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I encourage students to take a look at a landscape where change \u2013 often, rapid change \u2013 can upend careers, and to follow this advice:\u00a0 Take a deep \u2018BREADTH\u2019<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s a clever play on words to suggest that the more curiosity, interest and ability you have spread across differing domains, the better able you will be to land upright if you get bounced around.\u00a0 The more breadth of interest and experience you have, the less bouncy a career adjustment will feel.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve prepared for a career, but technological advances make that career irrelevant, you will need to be able to find something new.\u00a0 So, be prepared by keeping all your passions and hobbies bubbling forth.\u00a0 That is, even though you may have chosen environmental engineering as your career path, it\u2019s okay and wise to stay involved with your theater group.\u00a0 Even though you want to be a math teacher, it\u2019s okay and wise to keep writing songs and playing guitar.\u00a0 Even though you want to be a financial analyst, it\u2019s okay and wise to keep making short films on the weekends.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get so locked into your major that you leave behind other aspects of your life.<\/p>\n

You just never know when a rug might get pulled or a path might get altered and, five or ten or twenty years down the road, those passions might meld into your next career.\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019ll leave engineering to write plays about the environment.\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019ll be a great math teacher singing engaging songs you wrote to teach your students math.\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019ll make financial advice videos, get discovered, and become the next big online expert.\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019ll be like Steve Jobs, who took an entirely impractical calligraphy course in college only to have it pay off immensely ten years later as he developed the first Macintosh computer.<\/p>\n

Harvard\u2019s guru on happiness, Daniel Gilbert, suggests that we humans have a terrible track record for predicting what might make us happy.\u00a0\u00a0 Much of finding our bliss will be done through trial and error.\u00a0 That means we need to keep trying lots of different stuff:\u00a0 majors, and careers, and hobbies and interests.\u00a0 Since no one knows what the future holds, doesn\u2019t it make sense, now more than ever, to have many irons in the fire, many lines in the water, many passions bubbling forth?<\/p>\n

Better safe than sorry.\u00a0 Plan ahead.\u00a0 Be prepared.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 This would also be the best place to advise against following the political pendulum swings or pressures to chase money by choosing a \u2018practical\u2019 major over the liberal arts.\u00a0 The pressures to go to college to \u2018be employable\u2019 are greater now than ever before.\u00a0 However, the reasoning behind this tactic is quite murky, and I encourage you to research the wonderful online discussions and debates that are emerging on this topic (and the long-term value of a liberal arts degree).\u00a0 You might also be interested in checking out what the Fortune 500 CEOs think about what matters for their incoming employees.\u00a0 Or, you might want to check out what majors those highly successful CEOs chose.\u00a0 Then talk to your folks and discuss amongst yourselves.\u00a0 I have a personal bias towards the liberal arts for fostering critical thought, reasoned arguments, cogent communications (especially writing), and the ability to synthesize myriad perspectives into a broader, more connected whole.\u00a0 So, why not go for that liberal arts major, and minor in something \u2018practical\u2019.\u00a0 Or, do a double major, for goodness sake!\u00a0 Carpe College!<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EXTRA EXERCISE:<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 Why not check in on some adults close to you?\u00a0 Pick any 10 adult family members or acquaintances, ask them these questions, and prepare to be enlightened.<\/i><\/p>\n

1). What was your college major?<\/i><\/p>\n

2). Why did you choose it?<\/i><\/p>\n

3). Do you use it in your current profession, and to what extent?<\/i><\/p>\n

4). What do you think would be a great double-major? Why?<\/i><\/p>\n

5). If you could do college all over again, what if anything would you do differently?<\/i><\/p>\n

6). Are you happy with your college experience and professional life overall?<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An excerpt from Carpe College! \u201cPassions are the gales of life.\u201d – Alexander Pope   What do you want to be when you grow up? Talk about pressure!\u00a0 You young people have been harangued and harassed without end about solidifying your future, locking something in, having a plan.\u00a0 Yet, ironically, you have grown up in a time when options are … Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":921,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}