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Which path to take? |
Recently a high school counselor came to my middle school to get our course selections and sit down and talk about what we want. I'm in 8th grade right now, and it's almost summer vacation. For my elective I took so much time trying to choose between musical theater, chorus, journalism, band, painting, and photography that she had to put me aside while she tended to another student. The scariest thing was when she sat me down again and looked into my eyes and said really seriously, "Honey, what do you want to do in your life?" I was thinking, i'm only in middle school!! how do i decide when i have so many things i love to do?? I want to pursue one thing and keep going at it, and I've always wanted to be a Journalist, or maybe a photojournalist, but I'm starting to have second doubts about it.... and my mother always tells me I'm too wishy washy and give up things too quickly, and I want to stop doing that. (i gave up ballet when i was 7, and gave up violin when i was 12) You are absolutely right -- you are too young to be taking the rest of your life so seriously. The high school counselor needs to lighten up and live. Besides, you never know what life might throw your way. For being so young, you are quite a lucid writer (which is a good thing). Why not take journalism and test your doubts about being a journalist once and for all? Whatever you decide, seize it with gusto, and enjoy it. Good luck to you, kid. It is still early days.... However, just need to take sufficient subjects which will offer you more choices when you go into college. If you want to go for Journalist or Photojournist, then take some photography, some journalism, some englist literature, a second language (which will come in handy), creative writing, art, so if offers you a broader selection and better foundation when the time comes to decide You can choose to be anything right now but if you think you're too young to think about that now, then you are too young. Many of my friends, which are about 21 years old, are in college and still don't know what to do. It's best to start looking when your near the end of high school and you should really know what you want to do in your early college years. In high school I wanted to be a cop. So I joined the Army to get an edge on the selection process. I came back and didn't want to be a cop anymore so I decided to attend college. At first I decided to pursue a degree in psychology and eventually go into graduate studies as a psychologist. But now, I'm into Law and that seems to be what I'm going stick with. First, relax. You'll be okay. I promise that picking one elective instead of another will not forever limit your future options. If you find a subject that you really love through an elective course, that can change your life, but there are still a lot of years ahead and plenty of time for you to find something that you really love. Second, it's good that you're starting to think about this stuff seriously. I think you should schedule an appointment with a guidance counselor to talk about goal-setting. Ask if they can give you something called an aptitude test or an interest assessment or an interest inventory. Those are all simple tests that you can take that can give you a clearer idea of what you're good at and what you're interested in and what careers your interests and abilities could lead you to. If your school doesn't offer them, search online! You can find them online for free. Then, ask your high school guidance counselor for one next year. The high school will almost certainly offer them. The tests are sort of like the quizzes in teen magazines, but they're longer (multiple pages) and are designed by experts to give you good feedback. When I was in 6th grade and 9th grade, my middle school and high school required us all to take an interest assessment and career aptitude test. I got the same result both times! Then, I took the test again after 3 years in college to try to help me decide what jobs to apply for. Guess what? Same results again! I changed a lot as a person between sixth grade and college, of course, but my basic interests and personality did not. So, maybe one of those tests could help you, too. Even if it doesn't give you all the answers, it will at least let you know what kinds of classes to keep your eye on and what subjects you might like if you try them :) Don't you worry about this dear, at this age, do the things you want to do, If you want to become a photojournalist, then pursue it. Sure you may have other career choices later on, maybe you will meet someone new, maybe you will see something that change your life forever, but... hey.... that's for later on, you can't always worry about the things that are too far away, how can you predict things 10 years from now? Maybe all the journalist are replaced by computers by that time. So try to take the elective you are interested in, most of the time the things you are interested in are also the things you are good at. (official research result conducted by education professionals). So basically if you really like doing something, the chances are you will do a good job on it. so think about it before you sleep at night, what interested you the most now is the career you are going to take, and as you grows up, your interests shift and your career path shifts also. Everybody is like that. And about the wishy washy stuff, who isn't? i gave up piano when i was 10, i gave up to be a professional soccer player when i was 17, i gave up to be a physicist like Albert Einstein when i was in my 4th year of university (at age of 22). i still have a little rock band with my friends and we are trying to record an album this summer, but soon i think i'll give up on that dream also. But i never felt bad about this, instead i'm glad i experienced so much, it's all part of my memories now and i smile every time i think about them. There's only one thing you need to be determined and consistent at all time, that's believing in yourself and believing in this world, never give up at the toughest times and always response to this world with much love. sorry for this long reply and my bad english, i'm not a native speaker, but hopefully you know what i mean and you see the points yourself : ) It is still early to decide what you want to do with your life. Maybe a general idea, but jobs will change before you graduate. I watched a recent program that said people will need to be able to make connections between different fields and ideas. We will need people who can think outside the box and see the connections between things that aren't obvious at first. Then help people communicate together and combine disciplines to come up with new answers and ways of looking at things. I think photo-journalists are like that. They help us look at the world in different ways from how we may have seen it before. Since you think that is something you may want to do, why don't you do some research? Maybe look at the work of photojouralists and see what they have done. See what they have done that you admire and what may inspire you. It seems to me that a photojournalist would need to be interested in a variety of things and have at least some basic knowledge of a lot of things. Does that sound like you? You would need some art and music as well as science and history and geography. You can't learn everthing in school. Outside interest will need to contribute to your education. Again, you will be making connections between things, subjects, ideas, methods etc. I think all of us need to explore different things particularly at your age so that we don't get stuck on one thing and develop tunnel vision. We all need exposure to a number of things. You'll be surprised how learning something new can sometimes get you out of the doldrums you may be experiencing and motivate you in all areas of your life, not just your chosen field. I went to a sewing workshop one time for four days. I went back to my teaching job renewed. I was more motivated. And I felt like I could so many things I didn't know how to do before. My principal noticed a change in me and I was better at teaching because I had taken time to do something new. And there were connections. I won't go into those, but I hope you can see that just exploring your options can help you. Good luck! And don't sweat it too much right now. |
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