Career Day: A forewarning for your bleak future

Walking into Barnum on March 23, surrounded by other teenagers like myself, nourished with the angst of frighteningly close (and unplanned) futures, I expected professional enthusiasts masters at the art of fake sincerity. “My job is great because...”, “You would love this if you love...”, “I’m just doing what I love…”. I stood prepared to listen to staunch positivity and giddy explanation. To a default, however, the day completely contrasted my expectations.I believe that the personal craving I went into the day with–to extract at least a small sense of stability and knowingness encompassing the infamous question of “what do you want to do in life?”–reflected that of many other young people exploring the early chapters of adulthood. Yet, the common prognosis was that the presenters left viewers void of any answers or consolation.The first noticeable  issue rested in the tendency presenters had to get off topic. Many of them veered into strange directions; long tangents describing their personal bouts and troubles surrounding their career. During the first panel, I was dismally introduced to professional journalism through disheartening narration of personal un-satisfaction: “I’m 35 years old and still… the moments I remember from this career are some of the worst times of my life...”.Consequently, financial struggle appeared to be the most popular topic of disappointment, in which case presenters on three different occasions remarked: “If you want money don’t be this...”. The utter lack of enthusiasm was astonishing; in each presentation it was hard to find one person who truly loved, or even liked their job (for the right reasons). And though I appreciate the raw honesty expressed by the presenters, who in most instances plainly discouraged students to undertake their career, talk of passion was a rarity, as many seemed to be too blurred by their financial status (or downfall) to actually talk about their job. The epitome of this shock came when a lawyer of over twenty years stood up during the presentation and said: “I like making a lot of money. Other than that, I don’t really care much for law.”I sat through morose tales of dreams unsatisfied, a deluge of middle-aged melancholy anecdote. Watching one particular display, I couldn’t help but diagnose at least two of the three speakers with depression, which at this point seemed to me to be a side-effect of adulthood.The day, for me at least, became an observation of human nature, in which I concluded that adults are really strange people. There was no consideration for others or common ground on the basics of interaction, as demonstrated on several occasions. In one incident, a young female working in the government field repeatedly tried to answer a question asked by a student–but was silenced about ten times by a man who had no experience in government, no place teaching, and no relation whatsoever to any of the presenters in the room. During the lawyers’ presentation, one man stood up (I will give it to him that he waited for his time to speak), and declared: “I may not be the best lawyer here at this panel, but I am the most popular...”, as he lifted a book he wrote with his father in the air. Throughout this particular panel, paralegals were silenced by the wrath of overbearing  men who, with no remorse, spoke for the trainees.  It was truly insightful to watch grown adults undermine each other through plainly catty and rude interruptions or competition, without even the slightest subtleness. Another attorney, the same one who had been practicing for almost 20 years, told me personally that his favorite thing about being in a firm is that there is “always lots of food around.” Well, now I’m hooked. Sign me up for law school!  A majority of the time, panel classrooms were lacking of any adults besides those recruited for presentations; ASB students were the only administration. And while I do not doubt the ability of ASB students, It could have benefitted each classroom immensely to have a teacher or Samohi admin in the room. The presence of an adult who has authority over the youth in the room, in my opinion, would have altered presenters’ demeanor and style of displaying their “insight.”    Though the thought behind career day is in the right place, and as a school we are fortunate to have future-building opportunities like this available to us, having the right speakers is equally as important as having any presenters at all. As far as I understand, career day is supposed to be an opportunity for students to gain some insight; an aid in discovering what they want in the world beyond high school and college.  If there was one thing I took away from career day, it would be that I certainly don’t ever want to be a career day panelist.