Teens should embrace time to explore options, aspirations

When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a marine biologist. I’m still not really sure where that idea came from, considering I lived miles away from any ocean and probably couldn’t even spell ‘biologist’ if asked. Regardless, I had firmly made up my mind about what I would spend the rest of my life doing. I had a Jacques Cousteau book full of coral reefs and deep-sea trenches (and a lot of very big words, which I mostly skimmed over), and I would look at all those pictures and think “in 20 years, that will be me.”

I turned 17 this year. As sure as I may have felt before, my mind has changed on my plans about a hundred times by now, and I’m still not sure what I want to do. There’s a lot of different things that inspire me, and it’s a pretty daunting task to try and narrow it down to just one to focus on forever. Even when I’ve found something I’m passionate about, that I feel like I could really make a life with, there’s a nagging fear in the back of my head that I’ll grow to hate it years down the line.

I’m certainly not the only one to have felt so indecisive, so why is there so much pressure for teenagers to decide on the rest of their lives right now? 

I use that phrase a little hyperbolically here because obviously there’s more to life than just your career or field of study, but when there’s so much emphasis on choosing a growing career area and making money, it’s easy to feel like that’s all you have to look forward to. 

Senior MaraJadyn Rodgers has felt the same pressure. “The same expectation is put on everybody. I think about how I’m doing this, or doing that, just because I feel like I should.” 

Teenagers, pretty famously, don’t have fully developed brains. That doesn’t mean we’re not intelligent, or reasonable, or any number of other things—it simply means we need more time before we decide what path to take. 

“Since our brains don’t develop really until we’re 25, it seems a little counterproductive that we’re asking students to make choices that will impact the rest of their lives,” psychology teacher Melissa Rogers said. “It’s way too much pressure to put on teenagers.”

Rather than pushing students to decide on the rest of their lives now, this period of time should be saved for experimentation and exploration of future plans. For what it’s worth, I think Cedar Falls High School does a pretty good job at motivating this kind of thinking. We have programs like CAPS that allow students to work hands-on with prospective employers, and business and IT classes that expose us to even more possibilities. We also have representatives from different post-secondary institutions visit and speak frequently about the different programs at their schools, which can be super helpful for people interested in further education. 

Ultimately, post-secondary plans are deeply personal and varied, and whatever seems most motivating to you is what you should pursue. It’s also OK to have no idea what you want at this point in your life, and rather than forcing yourself into something that doesn’t quite fit, you should try to experience lots of different things and develop new skills. Don’t let anyone make you feel like you’re falling behind for feeling unsure about your future. There’s nothing wrong with taking your time.