the mixed messages we send kids…. how about underwater basket weaving? …usually idioms referring...

The mixed messages we send kids…

How about underwater basket weaving?

…usually idioms referring in a negative way to supposedly

easy and/or worthless secondary, college or

university courses, and used generally to refer to a perceived decline in

educational standards.

or, Music Appreciatio

n?

Did you know that …

Since 1980, Reed College in Portland, Oregon has offered underwater basketweaving class during Paideia (a festival of learning)?

Student Resource Center @ the University of Arizona offered a submerged snorkelling basket weaving course in Spring of 1998?

In early 2009, a Rutgers University scuba diving instructor offered a one-off course?

That Underwater Basket Weaving is a trademark of the US Scuba Center, Inc, which offers a speciality class designed to improve divingskills from which participants can ‘take home a memorable souvenir.’ *****

Here is my personal favorite,

“If you are not careful your future will consist of asking on a regular basis, ‘Would you like fries with that?’

So, here’s the rub…

When trying to create and cultivate a culture of career conversations within our schools, we must be very careful ‘what’ we say and ‘how’ we say it.

A school or district-wide career development initiative must be planned and purposeful; especially during those transitional times when we choose to intensify their individual career developmental time.

i.e., a freshman transition course. That move from middle school to high school brings with it internal/mental expectations that we must sieze upon in relation to that student’s personal career pathway development.

The following question intensifies in frequency, beginning in a student’s ninth grade year, whether we know it or not…

“So, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

Times in a student’s life that contribute greatly to the frequency of this question being asked definitely include ‘pre-enrollment’ periods!

…and in many instances, the importance of this answer reaches its highest level of intensity during their senior yearof high school!!!

So, lets take a look at the next ‘crucial’ transitional time in a student’s live…that senior year to post-secondary, freshman year.

And, possibly what is happening because we are not addressing (from a career developmental standpoint) this time of crucial educational transition.

Surveys conducted annually by Collegegrad.com (a job networking website) have found the number of graduates moving back home with parents has risen each year over the past decade.*

To the point where 80% of recent graduates responding to its online survey moved back home last summer.*

Up from 67% in 2006.*

…average college graduate has a student loan debt of $23,186.**

oh, and the…

In October 2009, 70.1% of 2009 high school graduates were enrolled in college or universities.***

Almost one-half of the students at four-year colleges in the United States fail to graduate within six years of entering.****

Emporia State University offers 55 majors

Fort Hays State University offers 54 majors

Kansas State University offers 114 majors

University of Kansas offers 135 majors

Wichita State University offers 79 majors

Barton County Community College , 83 majors

Butler Community College, 63 majors

Colby Community College, 39 majors

Hutchinson Community College, 53 majors

North Central Kansas Technical College, 22 majors

Did they realize that…

There are almost 200 classes offered where I work, Hutchinson High School and Hutchinson Career & Technical Education Academy!

After visiting every freshman English class at HHS the last three years,I found out that over 97% of our freshman said they would be goingto college.

Oh, and over 90% said they would like to have some sort of extended(6mos+), part-time employment during their high school years.

What’s the point?

Responses by these freshman indicate they have expectations, strong expectations, no matter how those expectations were formed, about ‘college & work.’

THEY really, really want to begin making those personal connections between education & career!!!

And, I’m here to tell you, the education-to-career connection is not necessarily the same thing as the college-to-career connection.

OK, well it might be…but not for the same reason many in this audience might be thinking.

In fact, the main ‘connection’ between college and career, for many, many students, is that ‘college’ disconnects them from their career!

Or, another way of putting it…

Career needs to drive the post-secondary decision ship, not college itself.

Ironically, we might just talk more students into college, not out.

However, we must, must let those post-secondary choices come out in the proverbial wash!

(irony and sarcasm intended when reading this next statement)

Lets just be very careful, though, that we distinguish (as early as possible) between the lights (college bound) and the darks (non-college bound)!

At Hutchinson High School,The class-choice equation: 26 credits required- 17 (of those are core credits)= 9 electives+ 4 more slots to fill= 13 (at least) class choices! •4 electives your

freshman year•5-7 electives your sophomore year•7-9 electives your junior year•9-11 electives your senior year

…not to mention early graduation

High Schools are elective-driven!

And, shouldn’t we be?

C’mon, by the beginning of their junior year, they are less than two years away from going to war and voting!

-You can finish College Algebra before end of junior year

-More and more students earning college credit before earning their diploma

-More and more students earning credentials before earning their diploma

-More and more dual credit courses being offered

And also @ our school…

How can we not afford to help them develop a 4year+ Educational/Career Plan?

We must provide students with intensive careerdevelopment during the ‘middle-transitional’ years.

Career development consists of:

-exploration

-personal-assessment

-work-environment awareness

-personal profile design

Career developm

entis an

across the board,district-wide,

planned,purposeful initiative

thatis

exemplified by

structured,

measurable, ongoinginterventio

ns.

I.e., you gotta have a plan and it must have time to

be implemented!

So, before I show you how we are helping kids develop their personal career pathways and when we intensify those ‘developmental-planning’ times in their educational lives…

…lets sum up why this is even important.

• Nearly 100% of high school students think they are and must go to college.******

• The average yearly cost of college is $6,585 (tuition/fees) at a public university (does not include housing)*******

• The average college graduate has a student loan debt of $23,186.**

• Almost one-half of the students at four-year colleges in the United States fail to graduate within six years of entering.****

• Over 80% of recent college graduates responding to an online survey moved back home last summer.*

•THERE IS A SKILLED LABOR SHORTGATE!********

Our strength is also our weakness……the amount of so many educational choices available to our students.

Lets not take away their choices…lets help them make the right choices for the right reasons!

Here’s how we see it ‘coming out in the wash.’

www.kansascareerpipeline.org

…are you using it?

…if yes, how?

…if no, why not?

In our district, career development & exploration is most intense in 6th-9th grade.

Culmination of intensity is with sophomore enrollment…students begin to make schedule decisions based on their career assessment results, personal profile & 4-year+ educational plan.

10th-12th grades consist of creating ‘next step’ action and ‘real-world’ work experiences.

R. Kent BlessingGlobal Career Development

Facilitator

blessingk@usd308.com, 620-615-4184

endnotes*http://www.collegegrad.com/press/

2009_college_graduates_moving_back_home_in_larger_numbers.shtml

**according to an analysis of the government's National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, conducted by financial-aid expert Mark Kantrowitz. Only a dozen years earlier, according to the study, 58% of students borrowed to pay for college, and the average amount borrowed was $13,172.

***http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm ****http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/06/03/55-percent-of-college-

students-graduate/UPI-15671244064567/#ixzz1EfbLybRv*****http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Underwater_basket_weaving#As_a_taught_course******My personal 9th grade English class visits the past three years.*******http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/oct2008/

bs20081028_629823.htm********http://hubpages.com/hub/Skilled_Labor