Looking Ahead

So lately I have been hearing a lot of people complain about school work as being unnecessary and boring and, this one is my personal favorite, completely unrelated to their future job. They also talk about their future as if it will just fall into place for them. Normally I ignore this, but I have heard it so much lately that it is starting to get on my nerves. For those who would say this, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how real life works.

First off all, when considering your studies, those skills you learn do in fact travel over to real life. For instance, virtually every job on the planet involves math in some form. Construction for example, uses geometry heavily for scaling and calculations. It is highly unlikely that you will find a job that does not require math in at least some form or fashion, and an inability to perform means you are seriously handicapped in that area. Language arts, another supposedly useless class, is also important. In the real world, people judge you on your ability to spell and speak. When you hand in a resume or a report, if it does not look and sound professional it can really hurt your stature in most fields. Also, for those of you who want to be singers and want to write your own lyrics, the knowledge of poetry your teachers are trying to impart on you will be invaluable. Even you dislike poetry, it is still important to have that knowledge. Almost every single class you can take will useful to you in the real world, thus school is not something you can just blow off.

And speaking of the real world, it is important to have a plan for what you will do after school. You can not get your living for nothing. People are not going to pay you to breathe. You need something that is marketable to make any real money. Chances are, you will not start out making the kind of the money your parents made. They most likely worked up to where they are, and you will almost assuredly need to also. This is not a guaranteed thing either. You need skills that will allow you to move up the ladder in your own field. It is not simply going to happen. You also need to find a skill that will be viable in the long run. The odds of becoming a world famous singer or a star foot ball player in the NFL or a model for Cover Girl are extremely low. If this your dream, then more power to you, shoot for it. You are not automatically going to fail by any means, but you should have a backup plan in case that dream does not pan out. And you should also be aware that these careers tend to be very short lived. The bottom line is having a plan is essential for life, and is not something you should just wing.

-BlackFox

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