One thing that has been a bit eerie about graduate school so far is how each class seems to be linked with what I am going through at that point in my life, thus making each class extremely relevant and accessible on many different levels. The past eight months have been full of change; some heartbreaking, some exciting, some nerve-wracking. The school I work for went through a reorganization over the past five months and most of us spent the summer wondering whether or not we would even have jobs the following morning. It was unnerving to say the least. Our school lost many great people, yet we also saw some very necessary changes being made. It was hard to motivate students when we were unsure of our own futures with the school. Although now things have calmed down and we are told that there will be no more reorganizing "for now", things have settled in a different way. In addition to that, my entire department reorganized and we are now under brand new leadership and direction. I've taken on many new responsibilities this summer and have started to really unfold my true career direction. After ten years of working, I am ready to chart my own course really start building my career. This brings me back to my point that it's eerie to me that this is the semester I am taking Career Development. I am looking forward to not only applying this class to my own life, but learning how to help others when they come into my office and say "I have no idea what I want to do with my life" and then stare at me as though I should reach into my desk and hand them a degree.
On a different note, when reading the text the following struck me as truly relevant to what most of us will face when we enter our careers: "Blustein and colleagues suggest that emphasis on meritocracy and free competition is misguided because the race for social attainment starts at different places for the poor, some racial and ethnic groups, and people with disabilities" (Brown, 2012, p. 7). I have learned to apply this philosophy to my work on a daily basis. A student who has parental involvement and financial support is much more likely to make it through college all in one shot than a student who has to work to make money to pay for classes. Working at a community college, we see this everyday. Students are working full time, raising children, paying mortgages, etc. and also coming to school. It is a sad truth, but the students who only have to focus on school make it out of here quicker and will little to no debt. I think as we move forward in this graduate program and into our careers we have to remember that each and every person starts at a different point. That does not mean that the end point cannot be the same for everyone, but many students are starting out with a severe disadvantage. I also found it interesting that none of our current models of career development, "...provide a basis for addressing the social ills of many of our client groups. Most career development models, including the ubiquitous Holland theory, focus on providing one-to-one assistance to client groups. Not one of the extant theories provides a basis for addressing the vocational and economic problems identified in the last section" (Brown, 2012, p. 7-8). I find this very interesting. We live in such a diverse culture, yet we are not tailoring career development models to different social or ethnic groups. The statistics clearly show the wage and employment gaps between different racial groups, men vs. women, high SES vs. low SES, etc. If we started young and tailored our career models to different groups would it make a difference in their future career choices? Would this be seen as discrimination to do so?
Brown, D. (2012). Career Information, Career Counseling, And Career Development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
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