The work world is not kind to 18-22 year olds.
Unless they have a distinct plan.
Which most don’t.
Despite my work, I have never been a college-only advocate. Years before it became fashionable to suggest the trades or the military or other alternatives to college, I would suggest these paths to parents who found me because of Motivate Your Son. The basic stories were the same a mere 10 years ago: my son procrastinates; does not do all his assignments; gets mediocre grades; plays video games far too long; doesn’t have study habits but the wind up usually led to “I don’t know how he’ll be able to manage in college.”
Given my college educated suburban clientele, there seemed to be no other option. I would bring up other options besides college. Unsurprisingly, the parents were not that interested but perhaps, surprisingly, given today’s batch of “bros”, the young men were also not interested. “I’m definitely going to college….”
That was an easy hook for me to sink my motivational bait into as I simply needed to explain the inevitability of college and the desire for choice when heading to college.
Today… not so much. “Not going to college” is a more acceptable option to parents and reasonably attractive to many young bros.
The problem: the most distinct areas that are financially viable alternatives to college are the trades and the military and there has not been an increase – at least among my
Connecticut suburban clientele and clients that track me from other affluent areas – in either.
Then.. whether it is the young bros who drop out of college after a year or two or never go… they learn:
THE WORK WORLD IS NOT KIND TO 18-22 YEAR OLDS!!!
Most get jobs that are similar in stature, credential building, and skills to summer jobs.
They play a lot of video games.
They often smoke a lot of weed.
They start getting asked: “what are you going to do?” They don’t know.
They learn that they are in the unstructured world where nothing automatically changes – you don’t change grades any more – unless they do something.
Their subconscious worry kicks in. They get gradually more anxious and depressed.
Their relationships start to suffer.
Their self-esteem dips.
They start to feel stuck.
They feel defeated.
I urge you to stop your young bro from this path sooner than later.
My work in running Career Counseling Connecticut has become mission-based in this regard.
College is not necessary for a career. But skills, credentials, and networks are really helpful for most careers.