Passivity kills progress choosing majors and careers
Overcome inertia in High School career and majors exploration
Getting your 16-year-old child to meet new people and try an unfamiliar activity – much less “experiential learning” is a challenge – ask me how I know. Let’s be honest, taking risks is hard for adults too. Think of the last time you did something completely unfamiliar – at work or in your leisure time and you’d agree. It’s easier to stay in your comfort zone.
Unfortunately, passivity kills progress in learning about yourself and where you will thrive in the world – what will resonate with me? (activities, skills, and people). Without taking risks, such as
trying an activity you might not like or perform well in, or
meeting people with whom you might not feel a connection,
we don’t grow. This growth is critical for high school students in planning their postsecondary direction. How will they clarify their personality and interests to choose a major or choose a career if they don’t have any real-world exposure or personal reference points?
Experiential learning helps students get to know themselves better
Experiential learning activities are one of the most important ways middle and high school students can clarify their academic path after high school. This path might be a training program, apprenticeship, 2-year or 4-year degree. When you choose an activity, it is possible to lower the stress and stakes for students to make it easier for them to participate.
3 ways to increase your student’s experiential learning and self-clarity
1. Intention
Reflect and discuss with your student why it’s important to try new activities other than sports: to learn more about themselves and what they like and don’t like. Sports are great for many reasons, but they have limited exposure to the world and do not teach all foundation skills. And many students don't participate in sports.
Students can try new activities in a low-stakes environment – outside of school, ungraded, unpaid in the case of volunteerism. The broader your experiences in high school, the more you know before you start training or college after graduation. This can avoid expensive mistakes down the road.
You may have to reprioritize how students spend their time. Identify current activities your student is already doing. Some schools have requirements for service learning. Is it something a student could expand on during the summer? Is there a summer program through a non-profit or parks department?
It doesn’t have to be big, just do something.
2. Structured exploration
Start small – but start! Taking the Career Key Discovery assessment takes about 10 minutes on a phone or laptop. Once you know more about their Holland personality and interests, you can research local or online activities that might be related. Here are a couple examples:
Realistic personality type – culinary: part-time job in food preparation, volunteer work that involves food preparation (homeless shelter, church, meals for seniors), making lunches for young children through the local YMCA. If you have any friends or family in the hospitality industry, have them do an informational interview with them.
Investigative personality type – analytics: The DataEthics4All nonprofit has many activities, including a summer program, STEAM in AI with broad application to all other personality type: Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional.
Decide with your student when they want to do an activity, narrow your list, choose one, and make it mandatory. If they really do not like something, they don’t need to do it again.
But have them finish what they start – it is a good lesson to teach them. Also, it can take a little time to adjust to something new. The first day may be hard, but students may feel better over time.
3. Non-judgmental support
If you hear, “what if I don’t like it?” assure students that not liking an activity, or parts of an activity is okay. The idea is to learn your likes and dislikes in a more real world setting. Just because something is hard doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a fit.
Be open to activities you might not have chosen but interest your student. You want them to do a STEM-related activity, but they want to take a music class. At the same time, encourage them to do unfamiliar, more challenging activities – something you think they might like – not because you think it’s related to a good (i.e. financially lucrative) career choice for them.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Sometimes practicing a skill like communication is enough value for an activity. For example, many students shy away from in-person contact because they are used to texting and online gaming. Activities in the community that involve in person interaction builds confidence once they get over the initial adjustment.
This skill building has real world value. What are the top two most in demand skills of 2024 according to LinkedIn?
Communication
Customer Service
Experiential learning doesn’t have to mean expensive
Wealth is not a prerequisite for experiential learning. Volunteer activities are just as important as paid ones. Public transportation can increase confidence and feelings of independence. Often there are need-based scholarships for those if you ask.
Take advantage of our virtual library
Career Key’s Career Advice Resources library has many free activities and articles about helping students learn about themselves, choose majors and careers, and tips for parents. If you work with students and parents, feel free to link your website to us.
