If in high school, there was someone that could walk you through what university/college was like, tell you about job shadowing, and let you know all the opportunities that were available in the world, and helped you learn about your values and interests....

Would you be a different person today?
Would you have preferred this person to exist in high school?
Would you have listened to this person?

I personally wish I had this person with me. I was a confused child that blindly went to Mac (absolutely no regrets) but I wish I found out my values sooner. I wish I felt this passion sooner. I wish I knew about all the career options out there.

Let me know what you think.

I don't know if I would personally be different; I've always wanted to study what I'm learning now, although I may have different career goals. However, I believe that high schools and even middle schools lead children to believe things about higher education that is not necessarily true. I feel that it's impressed upon children that they can only get jobs if they complete higher education (which seems to be mostly true), but usually only at a university level. Moreover, they tend to push better-known or "elitist" schools such as Queen's, McGill, UofT, without encouraging students to attend sometimes smaller universities, which also have great programs/professors and may be a more suitable environment for students. I also think high school teachers give an unrealistic expectation to students. It seems to be commonly portrayed that a BA or BSc will get you a job, but in reality, that seems to be rarely enough these days. You need additional education either at a higher university level or in college. Afterall, we have been named "generation jobless" and that seems to be mostly true.

High schools seem to undermine the quality of college education. Maybe 20 years ago it was preferable to be university educated, but now it seems that college is at an equal level with university or is even preferred because students get hands-on experience in college. High school students should be encouraged to look at less standardized jobs. For example, it seems to be commonly acknowledged that students prepare to enter the work force as a teacher, doctor, lawyer etc., because that is what we have been taught by our elders to expect of ourselves. Unfortunately, high schools do not expose students to other great jobs that are possibly in higher demand and pay equally well, if not better, than the aforementioned careers.

I also feel that high schools should push jobs in the trades. This generation is losing a lot of valuable tradespeople like electricians, brick layers, plumbers etc., that are often paid quite a lot of money because they are in demand. It is automatically assumed that students should attend university if they studied at the academic level in high school and should attend college if they studied at the applied level. I think it is wrong that high schools change the name of courses from applied to college and academic to university once grade 11 starts. High schools automatically set students up for their post-secondary education just by labelling grade 11 and 12 courses this way.

I did have academic councillors at my high school who walked me through the advantages of post-secondary eduaction, however I feel that they did this in a biased way. Councillors should be more honest and open with students and lead them towards a career that will actually be successful, instead of giving them false advice. Their advice may have been true 10 years ago, but they need to consider the fact that the job market has changed today and education needs to change with it.

If I could shadow each engineering discipline I wanted for a day that would definetly have been most helpful to me. I also wish someone would have pointed out that work experience and more importantly social connections are very important these days.

Originally Posted by lizziepizzie

I don't know if I would personally be different; I've always wanted to study what I'm learning now, although I may have different career goals. However, I believe that high schools and even middle schools lead children to believe things about higher education that is not necessarily true. I feel that it's impressed upon children that they can only get jobs if they complete higher education (which seems to be mostly true), but usually only at a university level. Moreover, they tend to push better-known or "elitist" schools such as Queen's, McGill, UofT, without encouraging students to attend sometimes smaller universities, which also have great programs/professors and may be a more suitable environment for students. I also think high school teachers give an unrealistic expectation to students. It seems to be commonly portrayed that a BA or BSc will get you a job, but in reality, that seems to be rarely enough these days. You need additional education either at a higher university level or in college. Afterall, we have been named "generation jobless" and that seems to be mostly true.

High schools seem to undermine the quality of college education. Maybe 20 years ago it was preferable to be university educated, but now it seems that college is at an equal level with university or is even preferred because students get hands-on experience in college. High school students should be encouraged to look at less standardized jobs. For example, it seems to be commonly acknowledged that students prepare to enter the work force as a teacher, doctor, lawyer etc., because that is what we have been taught by our elders to expect of ourselves. Unfortunately, high schools do not expose students to other great jobs that are possibly in higher demand and pay equally well, if not better, than the aforementioned careers.

I also feel that high schools should push jobs in the trades. This generation is losing a lot of valuable tradespeople like electricians, brick layers, plumbers etc., that are often paid quite a lot of money because they are in demand. It is automatically assumed that students should attend university if they studied at the academic level in high school and should attend college if they studied at the applied level. I think it is wrong that high schools change the name of courses from applied to college and academic to university once grade 11 starts. High schools automatically set students up for their post-secondary education just by labelling grade 11 and 12 courses this way.

I did have academic councillors at my high school who walked me through the advantages of post-secondary eduaction, however I feel that they did this in a biased way. Councillors should be more honest and open with students and lead them towards a career that will actually be successful, instead of giving them false advice. Their advice may have been true 10 years ago, but they need to consider the fact that the job market has changed today and education needs to change with it.

I agree with the counsellor part. My guidance counsellor did not really push college education. I recall knowing about it only through careers course and hearing about it during co-op information sessions. But I didn't really respect it and appreciate it. I think that stigma really did not allow me to embrace all that was available. I do not know if you would like, but here is an amazing Ted Talk by Sir Ken Robinson

http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_rob...olution.h tml