Friday, March 14, 2014
TOUGH JOB MARKET FOR TEENS
Teens Face Toughest Job Market on Record
Written by: Annalyn Kurtz on March 14, 2014
Published by: CNN Money
There was a study made by the Brookings Institution which concluded that job opportunities for teenagers and people in their early twenties are going down. In the 100 largest metro areas only 1 in 6 young people are employed. Most teenagers are still in school, either enrolled in high school or college. But the study said that reason did not explain why so many young people were unemployed. There was a measure in the job market that shows about 1.8 million teenagers in the top metropolitan areas are "underutilized". Well what does that mean? Underutilized means that they are either looking for a job, would like to work but aren't looking, or they have a part-time job and want to work full-time. A writer of the study expressed her opinion that underutilization would not have spiked if students were happy in school and not wanting to work. In the study it is shown that teenagers from high-income families are more likely to get a job, and those from low-income families, or high school dropouts were denied the chance of employment. High school is a big step in one's life, because from that point on were are suppose to be ready to be on our own and go to college and get a job. However, now it is obvious that attending high school is not nearly enough preparation for students to get a job. The study report blames the education system for the decline in jobs for teens. It says that high school should better prepare for college course work and employment.
When I'm in school I really don't care about Math or History or Theology or Science or English or learning a foreign language because that is not stuff I'm going to need to know for life. I don't need to know how to graph a point or find the surface area of a prism. I really don't need History because that's all in the past. School is not preparing us for real life. Classes like economics, life skills, and classes that teach us everyday skills. So I think school needs to focus on educating us in things that we really need to know to be able to survive in the future. How to manage our money, and run a household, things like that are important. Maybe if high school did a better job educating us in things that we really need, rather than useless things that waste time, we might be able to get a job. We might be able to go to college and know how to live once we graduate. Math is going to do me any good when I'm 80, so I don't know why it matters now.
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That is a really good point! If we don't have any interest in subjects like math, science, theology, ect. we shouldn't waste the time taking them. I agree that we need to focus on subjects that are going to help us in the future like how to deal with money and other life skills. There should be more guidance on how to get a job. I also think many teenagers could actually have a job if they weren't so busy with school and homework.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you that the importance on classes like life skills and economics cannot be understated, I think the other classes are important too. The point of high school is not the same as the point of college. High school is just providing a base line for what you need to know before college. While I understand that some people know what they want to do with their life, the skills you learn in other classes can be used in everyday life too. If you do not know what happened in World War II, then you will look extremely uneducated. Learning a foreign language is important if a job wants you to be bilingual. English is important because, whether you like it or not, you will be writing the rest of your life. Lastly, Math is important because when you are 80 and need to pay your taxes, you will be totally lost without the basic information you learned in high school. I sort of agree with you though about geometry because I really don't know how I will use that if I am not an engineer.
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