My high school councilor told me not to take biology nor latin because I didnt need it. Why did he think that I would not need the basics of those for whatever major/career I ended up getting? How many people change their majors or careers after high school?
Anyways, I really have doubts about how many high school councilors are up to date on job opportunites, and what is invovled in each career.
Best thing to do is to go to your local big college, and talk to the job placement people and the academic probation people at the college. They are more up to date on what employers want, how hard or easy it is to place recent graduates, and what the outlook is in each career, e.g. IT and computer science.
I started high school a private school in the suburbs of New York. You NY-ers are familiar with Regent’s courses. In the middle of my junior year, I moved to a public school of backwoods, PA. My parents and I were required to meet with the guidance counselor the day before I started class.
He immediately resented that I came from a private school, and spent about twenty minutes telling me how much harder it would be in public school. Umm, yeah…
He told me I could graduate at the end of my junior year, before realising that New York math sequences are not the same as PA’s. No, I had to take algebra again. At 17.
Then he told me I would graduate one semestre early.
Then he told me I would have to stay the entire senior year because I hadn’t taken driver’s ed, which is required for graduation in PA.
Driver’s Ed was full of 15-year-olds. I was 18, and the only one who knew how to drive. These were also the juvenile delinquints of the sophomore class, and I had to sit through class while we watched videos about how to use a turn signal, while listening to their whispered descriptions of who’s having sex with who, who’s got weed this weekend, why women’s bodies are disgusting and why guys should beat their girlfriends.
Driver’s ed was also a gym class, so half the week we were learning not to drink and drive, and the other half we were playing sports. He promised me that I could go to senior gym for the sports, and then changed his mind. I was stuck playing badminton with guys who thought I should slapped around while my friends were playing soccer.
I got the highest SAT score in my class, and he announced that another girl did.
He never noticed that I was not going to college.
We talked about college once, and he was very resentful of the fact that my parents could afford to send me to college, which was a rarity in this school’s district.
A year later, when my boyfriend took the SATs, he called him at home to congratulate him on his score. My boyfriend scored a few points lower than I did, but essentially the same score. See item 7.
Over the course of my life, I have met several people who seem to have nothing but discouragement to offer other people. There seems to be a type of personality that takes pleasure in attempting to dash other peoples’ plans and dreams. It is unfortunate that anyone like this would end up in a career that is supposed to help people reach their goals.
I am glad that most folks here seem to have ignored any discouraging advice and gone ahead with their plans. Knowing one’s own potential is a good thing.