As a child in elementary school, people are often asked what they want to be when they grow up. Answers usually vary from the President to an astronaut. However, the enthusiasm for a thrilling career has faded away among the majority of teenagers in modern society. Many adolescents have no clue what they want to pursue as a career, let alone know what they want to study in university.
It is part of social nature for a person to be passionate toward a certain thing. Of course, the level of passion varies from person to person, and the thing which they could be passionate about could be anything. What usually dictates which passion a person has is what makes the person in question happy.
As of today, American society has made it so that the populous doesn’t have to leave their house to sedate themselves with commercialism, social media, and a view on the world which only shows what people want to see. The American populace has been blinded by society’s wealthy dictating conglomerates in order to convert the average civilian into a obedient slave of consumerism.
In short, society has been made into a place where people are spoon-fed what they want with little or no effort. This means that the only thing that people need in order to live a happy life is money. Rather than pursuing passions and true joy, people have become dependent on money to access happiness through the means of the latest Apple product or the priciest Versace product. People should be seeking out different experiences to get a feel of which career will bring them the most joy instead of concealing themselves in a bubble of “social” media.
At Grady High School, many students said that they had no clue what they wanted to study or pursue as a career. These students ranged from freshmen to seniors with just weeks left until they graduate. What is more troubling however is how students at Grady High responded to if they had a passion. It is becoming increasingly rare for adolescents to know what they want to pursue as a career.
Alex Durham, a sophomore at Grady said “I didn’t want to be anything specifically [when I was a child]. As of now, I might want to be an architect but I honestly have no clue.”
Like many other students his age, Alex is unsure of what he wants to do as an adult. Durham said that the main thing that he would look for in a job would be how much it made a betterment to him on a financial and personal standpoint. What people should look for in a profession is what makes them happy, and in turn, wealth will follow.
Another reason why so many students don’t have a solid idea of what they want to do in the future is because they are too busy. In order for a student to be accepted into a highly competitive and prestigious university, they must have a balance of a healthy GPA, extracurricular activities, community service, ACT/SAT scores, and other accolades which make students look good to colleges.
Even though extracurricular activities allow students to do things that they like, the sheer amount of pressure put on teenagers nowadays has made it so that the majority of their time has to be devoted to college competition. How can people pursue their passions and find out what they want to do if they are too swamped with standardized testing? It is hard to make time for the pursuit of one’s passion if they are too concerned with the tedium of linear education.
It is a sad fact that the next generation of businessmen has no clue what they want to do with their life. The American youth has been taught that the world depends on a set of test scores. Instead of changing the world with revolutionary ideas and inventions, the teenage populous has been too concerned with how colleges will see them as students rather than innovators.
As a result, there has been a lack of enthusiasm and determination for what people want to do as a career. Rather than going after a career which is associated with one’s passion, people have been driven to go after whatever job will earn them the most money. It is a shame how society has manipulated the latest generation to become linear and greedy drones of large corporations.
