Awareness Among Pursuing Career Among High School Students

Malavika Pradeep, Dhanraj Ganapathy^* and Keerthi Sasanka

^*Correspondence: Dhanraj Ganapathy, Department of Prosthodontics, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India, Email:

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Introduction

Career selection is one of many important choice’s students will make in determining future. This decision will have a great impact over their lives throughout. “Work is one of our greatest blessings. Everyone must have an honest occupation” [1]. Student’s education will also be affected by their parent’s educational background. There are various environmental factors that can influence a student in their career decision. It is essential to have a good understanding of yourself, your personality, if you really have to make good career plans [2]. Opportunity is another factor that influences career choices for students. Opportunity influences how students perceive their future. The issue of poverty plays an important role in the opportunities available to all. Students want to be treated as the adults they are expected to become, on an equal opportunity basis, so that they can make the best possible career choices. In Laleger’s study that was done in 1942 shows that gender bias, and studies related to it is a part of the career choice process [3]. Kroll has provided models of the decisionmaking process. John Dewey’s model has five noticeable steps described: the preflective state, intellectualization, suggestions, reasoning and then hypothesis [4]. Psychological testing, one means of helping a student focus on an appropriate career choice, resulted in better employment records, as shown for example in the stability, promotions earnings, and employer ratings throughout the student’s career [5]. In most of the literature concerning career choice, the need for students to investigate is discussed. The student must have investigated, brainstormed, and tried alternate methods, rather than giving in to the first opportunity available. The student must not have been satisfied with the easiest opportunity that comes along. In fact, the constant career exploration could be adopted as a lifelong strategy throughout one’s life [6]. In further studies done by researchers, it was revealed that youth who are motivated by intrinsic factors are driven by their interests in certain employments, and professions that are personally satisfying [7,8].

Career choice is an important decision taken in life which requires active seeking of information to arrive at an informed choice. Many high schools are devoting more resources to improving student awareness of education. Students simply do not understand the college search process or the resources that are available to them to research the higher ed programs and career options that are available. With a huge counseling gap (the national average is 1 counselor to 495 students), it is no wonder that a majority of the students are not able to navigate their way to success. And, with 65% of students attending rural and urban school districts, the problem may be even worse than we know. Previously our department has published extensive research on various aspects of prosthetic dentistry [9–19], this vast research experience has inspired us to research about the present study, awareness about pursuing a career among high school students. The aim of the present study is to create awareness about pursuing a career among high school students.

Materials and Methods

A questionnaire was prepared with all questions regarding my question was transferred into a survey and the survey was circulated on the online platform. Sampling method is random sampling and sampling size is 100. The questionnaire was a self-questionnaire which consists of close and open-ended questions. The data collection software used is survey planet. The type of analysis used here is percentage analysis. The method of representation of data is pie chart and bar graph. The results are converted into graphical form for easy understanding. The independent variable of the study includes geographical area. The dependent variable of the study includes age, gender, and knowledge.

Results and Discussion

A questionnaire was prepared, and it was circulated as a survey on an online platform. The survey was answered by 101 people. The Result of the present study is as follows - According to Figure 1, 56.38% of the participants have good knowledge regarding career choice and 43.62% does not have much knowledge regarding career choice. According to Figure 2, 52.04% are happy with their choice in career and 47.96% are not happy with their choice in career. According to Figure 3, 55.56% of the participants were pressurized in choosing their career and 44.44% of the participants were not pressurized in choosing their career. According to Figure 4,19% responded to friends, 40% responded to parents, 6% responded to social media and 35% responded as teachers as their factors in choosing a career. According to Figure 5, 66% of the participants agree that boys mostly choose engineering and 34% do not agree that boys mostly choose engineering. According to Figure 6, 26% like to become an engineer and 22% like other jobs. Majority of the participants want to become a doctor. According to Figure 7, 61% of the participants are female and 39% of the participants are male.

Figure 1: Pie chart representing the knowledge of participants about career choice. 56.38% of the participants have good knowledge regarding career choice and 43.62% does not have much knowledge regarding career choice. Majority of the participants have good knowledge regarding career choice. Green denotes yes and red denotes no.

Figure 2: Pie chart representing the number of participants who are happy with their career choice. 52.04% are happy with their choice in career and 47.96% are not happy with their choice in career. Majority of the participants are happy with their choice in career. Red denotes yes and blue denotes no.

Figure 3: Pie chart representing the number of participants who were pressurized in choosing their career. 55.56% of the participants were pressurized in choosing their career and 44.44% of the participants were not pressurized in choosing their career. Majority of the participants were pressured into choosing their career. Red denotes yes and blue denotes no.

Figure 4: Pie chart representing the factors which influenced the participants in taking their career choice. 19% responded friends, 40% responded parents, 6% responded social media and 35% responded as teachers as their factors in choosing career. Majority of the participants have parents as their factor in career decisions. Blue denotes friends, red denotes parents, green denotes social media and orange denotes teachers.

Figure 5: Pie chart representing the number of participants who think boys mostly choose engineering. 66% of the participants agree that boys mostly choose engineering and 34% do not agree that boys mostly choose engineering. Majority of the participants agree that boys mostly choose engineering. Red denotes no and green denotes yes.

Figure 6: Pie chart representing career choice of participants. 52% of the participants like to become a doctor , 26% like to become an engineer and 22% like other jobs. Majority of the participants want to become a doctor. Blue denotes doctor, red denotes engineer and green denotes others.

Figure 7: Pie chart representing number of male and female participants. 61% of the participants are female and 39% of the participants are male. Majority of the participants are female. Blue denotes female and red denotes male.

In the present study, according to Figure 2, 52.04% are happy with their choice in career and 47.96% are not happy with their choice in career. In previous studies, results were found that American adolescents often have unrealistic occupational aspirations and the job opportunities that were likely to be available to them did not match with their expressed interests [20]. In a survey study in Hong Kong, 28% respondents reported that they were interested in studying nursing. In the present study, according to Figure 5, 66% of the participants agree that boys mostly choose engineering and 34% do not agree that boys mostly choose engineering. In previous studies, the findings stated that the students’ decision to not choose or choose nursing was significantly influenced by the demographic factors:, biology subject pursued, gender, mother's occupation, previous academic achievement and their perception of nursing as a career [21]. In a statement given by Marcia Greenberger (2002) of the National Women’s Law Center, it was said that girls were expected to cluster into the traditional fields of cosmetology, childcare, and similar jobs and boys are still being steered toward the traditional ‘male’ jobs, which are higher paying. In Florida 99% of the students in cosmetology are female, while 100% of the students taking plumbing are male while 99% of the students in cosmetology are female [21,22]. In present study, according to Figure 4, 19% responded friends, 40% responded parents, 6% responded social media and 35% responded as teachers as their factors in choosing career. In previous studies, it was found that higher career congruence with parents have also increased the career confidence and self-efficacy [3,23]. In the process of youth’s career decision making, teachers and educators are significant figures [24,25]. Questions were asked such as if the students have a good knowledge about their career before choosing it, did they like their choice in career, were they pressurized in choosing their career, factors which influenced their choice in career etc. These questions were answered by many students. From the result it is understood that most of the high school students are aware about career choices but still there are students who are sure about their career decisions or those who do not have much information regarding it. They still must know more about career choices and need to be given their own choice in choosing their career. Limitation of the study is that the sample size is 100 which is less. In future more numbers of people and other groups of population can also be added.

Conclusion

The present study was done to create awareness about pursuing a career among high school students. Most of the high school students are aware about career choices but still there are students who are not sure about their career decisions or those who do not have much information regarding it. Students must give more importance towards their decision in their career.

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