Almost right off the bat, I made a connection between class
on Wednesday and the text for the week. Unfortunately, it was in a grim and
very real way. Dana mentioned that she knew two Latina students who took
advanced high school classes, yet were handed pamphlets for the local community
college by their counselor instead of being encouraged to go to a four-year
school. The text backs this incident up stating that it is “likely that initial
career choices and discrimination account for some of the discrepancies among
white workers and Hispanic and African American workers (Brown, 2012, p. 6).”
If it is common practice to encourage intelligent minorities to aim low, of
course there is going to be a discrepancy in career choices as well as income.
Before
reading this chapter, I had no idea how much debate there is going on in the
career-counseling world even in the definition of such words as career. I had
always thought of career as its simplest definition: the jobs one has held over
his pr her lifetime. I really like the idea, however, of it being a “lifelong
process (Brown, 2012, p. 15)” of many different factors. This definition
allows employers and others see a very complete account of what an individual
has accomplished in her or her life. As people, we are more than just our job
and many other aspects of ourselves can positively contribute to our career.
I
also really enjoyed reading about the future of work. It is something that will
have a huge impact on my family, my friends, those persons that I will work
with and myself. I, however, have given very little thought to it. This section
also made me think about the subjective versus objective questions that we will
be asking our students. During our class interviews, I asked questions that were based off of feelings or thoughts instead of facts. Even thought my idealistic self drifts towards the
subjective, it may not be enough to help students find employment. If the job
that is perfect for him or her is barely in existence anymore, I may have to ask
more objective questions about skills in order to match the student with a job
he or she is likely to get. While
it is important to follow one’s dreams, it is also important to have a fall
back option if those dreams are not attained.
Brown, D. (2012).
Career information, career
counseling, and career development
(10th ed.). New York:
Pearson Education, Inc.
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