There are multiple ways that pressure to find a career can create stress for students. For example, it can cause multiple mental health struggles and cause very high levels of anxiety. Additionally, this can cause significant burnout in many people because many individuals overexaggerate and place excessive weight on the concept of “perfect”. The frontal lobe isn’t fully developed till one is 25, so the fact that many high school students are expected to plan a great and magical plan and narrow it down to one specific job makes everything feel so overwhelming, and it might cause discouragement in students when they can’t seem to decide what they would like to do as a career path. Another factor that can be caused by the pressure of finding a career at such a young age is that they might make irrational or impulsive decisions due to the feeling that they are running out of time to choose a career. Also, the frontal lobe isn’t fully developed until age 25, which just goes to show that it’s a bad decision to almost force kids to make decisions that they have to stick to for the rest of their lives. A third effect is that all the pressure of having to find a career so young doesn’t allow students to broaden their horizons as much as we would like. Although schools do offer many opportunities to allow students to figure out their future career, having to pick something at such a young age, many students are quick to choose a career and start devoting themselves to it without exploring multiple other careers.
Although thinking about career paths so early causes many teens to stress, according to bestcolleges.com, 53% of students are optimistic and look forward to what’s to come after high school. There are many benefits to looking for different careers at a young age. For example, once students are able to connect their work to real life, they can begin to engage more and find out what they would like to do as a job. Looking for careers can also allow students to develop skills that employers might be looking for, putting them at an advantage when it comes to looking for a job. All these things are very good reasons to learn and focus on careers early; there shouldn’t be so much pressure on this. Many people in high school have a life outside of school, and with that comes its own amount of stress and pressure. Finding a career early shouldn’t be a make-or-break for students’ futures.
The pressure that adults put on students to figure out their careers is very real. Although it’s an essential thing for us teens to figure out or at least make a plan to look at what we MIGHT want to do later in life, we are still young and immature. When people pressure us to figure out the “perfect” career, it makes students feel like they are going to be stuck and like they are on a countdown. High school is meant to be a fun experience, and it is meant to be great. Please remember to take a break to relax when it comes to school. Find some downtime and little by little start exploring different careers. You don’t have to stick with one major for the rest of your life, either. You can always change your major in college and always go down different career paths.
