Utah Association of Career and Technical Education

1
Utah Association of Career and Technical
Education

• Getting Real
• Counseling Teens in Uncertain Times
• Kenneth Gray
• Professor emeritus of Workforce Education and
  Development
• Penn State University
• gty_at_psu.edu

2
Uncertain Times

• National high school dropout rate 30
• Unemployment rate (16-19 yrs old) 21
• At best 50 of college students graduate 30
  never make to the sophomore year
• The average student loan debt is 20K
• Inflation adjusted earnings for 4-year college
  graduates are less today than in 1972.
• Growth of Gray Collar workers
• 30 of highest income do not have a degree

3
Uncertainty of Employment for Youth in the
information age.

• Growth of High skill/low wage employment
• Most likely to be off-shored
• Less than fulltime employment, telecommuting,
  volunteerisms
• Certifications more important than degrees
• Globally more than a million 4 yr college degrees
  awarded annually in computer science, math, and
  electrical engineering.

4
Part of the ProblemWidespread Career
Immaturity

• The Need to Help Teens
• Get Real

5
The fact is that large numbers of CA college
graduates leave school as unsure of what they
will do when they grow up (except perhaps
continue to go to school) as they were when they
started.How CA Postsecondary Education Systems
Address Workforce Development (2007). CA
Postsecondary Education commission
6
Today Success Requires

• Appropriate Academic skills
• Career Direction
• Few Graduate with Both

7
All my life Ive always wanted to be somebody,
but I see now I should have been more
specific.
Wagner, 1986
Other Ways to Win
8
Women and Career Choice
9
Men and Career Choice
10
Old Advice that is Now Bad Advice

• Postpone career choices as long as possible - You
  dont want to close any doors.
• Do not worry about career/college major
  indecision - you will decide that in college.

11
Creating Other Ways to Win Career Guidance

• By the tenth grade all students will have
  participated in activities designed to help them
  identify several career options.
• In the eleventh and twelfth grades all students
  will participate in activities that allow them to
  verify these choices, using the results to
  develop postsecondary plans.

12
Student Outcomes Goals of Career Development
Programs

• Help teens make the best career decision they can
  based on what they know now about themselves
  and the world of work.
• If this is a good decision, the next decision
  will be even better.

13
Six Steps to Postsecondary
Success

• Step One
• Focus on the Goal
• College or Success?

14
Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Two
• Have a Back-up Plan
• Plan A Plan B

15
Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Three
• Reach a Shared Decision

16
Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Four
• Develop at least a
• tentative
• career plan

17
Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Five
• Be willing to consider all
• the options!
• Prep year
• One Year Technical Certificate
• Two Year Technology Degree
• Four Year College
• Military, Apprenticeship, Employment

18
Six Steps to PostsecondarySuccess

• Step Six
• Be Realistic
• Revisit Plan A B

19
The High Skills/High Wage Workplace
40
30
Ratio 1-3-2-4
20
What Types of Employees are Expected to Be in
Short Supply Over the Next Years?
Source 2005 Skills Gap Report A Survey of the
American Manufacturing Workforce by National
Association of Manufacturing
21
Summary

• For this generation career maturity is as
  important as academic maturity
• Tentative career plans is the first step.
  Avoidance is a decision to do nothing.
• All students should have a plan A B

22
A Final Thought

• Career and Technical Education
• Is an excellent resource for helping teens get
  real.