10 Chapter 1 Exploring Careers
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Experiences and education. Once you experience or study something,
you decide if it will become a part of your values.
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Needs. Pressing needs can persuade you to adopt new values. For
example, if your career choice requires expensive schooling, you will
value opportunities to reduce the fi nancial burden. One opportunity is
to apply for all the scholarships you can. Another opportunity is working
full-time for an employer that pays for courses taken to improve job skills.
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Morals and character education. The presence or absence of good
character can affect your choice of values. These, in turn, affect your
concepts of right and wrong and of good and bad.
Your Standards
There are many different kinds of standards or accepted levels of
achievement. People have standards for their appearance and how well
they perform certain skills. They have standards for the quality of their
possessions. People also set different standards for themselves. For instance,
one student might have a standard to correctly answer every test question.
Another student might have a standard to simply get a passing grade.
Standards and Values
People’s standards are related to their values. Their standards will
be high for the items they highly value.
Like values, people acquire their standards through personal
contacts and experiences. Therefore, people from the same culture, and
especially the same family, often have similar standards.
Knowing your own standards and what you expect from life can
help you understand yourself more fully. In a similar way, you can have
a better understanding of other people if you notice what standards they
apply to their lives.
Meeting Future Challenges
You often hear the saying life is full of challenges. All students your
age face many of the same pressures, but there are ways to handle them.
One way is to recognize that changes are coming and prepare for them.
Another way to meet future challenges is to build inner strength and
confi dence. These challenges simply mean you are maturing and moving
toward independence.
Prepare for Change
Change is a normal part of life. It can be uncomfortable to people
uncertain about what lies ahead. Change, however, brings new
opportunities and experiences, especially for teens preparing for a
promising future, 1-3. For those who make life and career plans, change
can even be exciting and fun. Replace any fear of the unknown you
might have with a commitment to learn how to deal with change.