Throughout one’s life, they’ve most likely heard the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”.
This phrase tends to be something that one thinks about at a very young age until they’re an adult. But when exactly should someone know the answer to this question?
Society has set the standard for people to know this answer by the time they graduate from high school. This is unrealistic for most cases since it is extremely difficult to make up your mind on such a large topic at a young age. It is known that people tend to change their mind extremely often due to many different reasons especially when they are younger and easily influenced. Whether it be because of their change in interests, the people around them, or even societal trends, etc. no one expects you to choose what you wanted to be when you were a child, so why expect adults to choose when they’re in their late teens? One main reason that explains why teens shouldn’t be expected to know their career is the fact that their brain is still developing.
Multiple studies have proven that people don’t fully develop their brain until they hit their early to late 20’s. In one article called “The Teen Brain: 7 Things to Know” written by Sushil Sharma, it is stated that “the development and maturation of the prefrontal cortex occurs primarily during adolescence and is fully accomplished at the age of 25 years. …is very important for complex behavioral performance, as this region of the brain helps accomplish executive brain functions.” In other words, the brain is not developed enough to be able to make lifelong decisions like choosing what you want to do for the rest of your life right out of high school. This shows that it is way more beneficial to not expect teens to choose their future and instead let them explore their options and not force them to choose a career straight away. Not only that but showing them that it is completely normal to not make up your mind as soon as you graduate when it comes to making these decisions.
The most common solution to the fact that one’s brain isn’t fully developed to make such decisions, is that a high schooler should just go with their interests and skills while trying to find a career. But these tend to change at any given time as stated above. Most of the time when a teenager asks someone for advice on picking careers, they’re asked about what they like to do in their free time. But what about the ones that don’t have any interests or skills to choose from.
The common response to this is to “not worry about it” and that “we’re still young”. And when exactly are we supposed to worry about our future or career if not right after high school? There’s many problems that come from expecting a high schooler to choose their career, especially the fact that it can be an extremely stressful time period which can lead to them making the wrong decisions and having to fix their mistakes as adults. A solution to this can be giving more resources to teens when it comes to their interests or even just showing that it is completely normal to not have your life figured out at that age. Choosing careers can be an extremely stressful and difficult choice for everyone. By allowing yourself to explore your choices and letting yourself make up your mind later in your life, it allows you to not make as many mistakes and learn more things about yourself that you wouldn’t have known otherwise.
Expecting teenagers to figure out their life at such a young age and being judged for not knowing yet is extremely toxic and can be detrimental to their future. It is completely normal to not have it all figured out at this age, and instead let yourself explore and acknowledge that making mistakes is normal too.
