From high school to higher learning

You probably began planning for your child's post-secondary education soon after her birth and revisited those plans on many occasions throughout elementary school. But the courses she selects in high school should allow her to keep open for the future as many options as possible that match her interests. In most Canadian provinces and territories, the secondary school system provides avenues for students to move on to apprenticeships, to training schools, to colleges, and to universities. Availability is still somewhat limited, but opportunities for cooperative education during high school give students a chance to experience different workplace environments for a few weeks to a few months each year without having to take on the responsibility of a part-time job.

Emphasize the importance of acquiring skills and achieving their best academically during high school. It's important for everyone to do their best at any job. And most jobs offer possibilities for eventual supervisory work, for training others, for management, for ownership, and for exercising business or entrepreneurial management skills. The more versatility one develops in knowledge and life skills, the more opportunities will open up for earning a living and adapting to the changing economy.

Do your homework
Find opportunities for both you and your teens to acquire information about all kinds of jobs in particular fields of interest. Food and hospitality services? Consumer marketing and customer service? New home construction and decorating? Animal care or training? High-tech software and multimedia games? Park architecture or management? Prepare webs or collages of related work interests, and scan advertisements for descriptions of current requirements and salaries offered. Your teen might speak to career counsellors at employment centres operated by trade unions or provincial and federal governments. Find out about working conditions, about unions, about training programs, about work experience. Some jobs require additional schooling, but the training is primarily practical and hands-on.

Talk about your own and your friends' jobs and how they've changed and evolved over the years. Focus on the quality-of-life issues: work you enjoy; working environment; building personal financial security; time commitment required for training and upgrading; levels of responsibility and autonomy; lifetime earning potential. Help your teen talk out his thoughts and feelings about how he would fit into various kinds of working situations. A seventeen-year-old who doesn't want to pursue academic studies after high school still needs lots of support from you to find the right path for him. If he's been feeling societal and peer pressures to pursue a college diploma or university degree, chances are that his self-esteem has been taking a beating. Help him find other options and let him know that choosing not to go to a college or university immediately after high school does not close the door on higher education forever. In time, he may return as a mature student who knows what his interests are.

Many adults return to school to learn new skills or to keep up-to-date in their field after they've worked for several years. Encourage your teen to understand that learning is a lifelong process, that he can learn new skills throughout his life. Point out examples of others who are lifelong learners. Work can also be viewed as a means to an end. If your teen has many interests and hobbies, a weekly paycheque may be all she needs to pursue her passion for music, travel, or anything else her heart desires. Not everyone wants to live for her work; some people work to live.