How many of you knew what you wanted to have as a profession when you were only 15 or thought that business and production were going to be your contribution to the world? On the subject of the proposed high school career academies, if this change is for the benefit of students, I am dismayed not to see academies for the arts, sports or trades.
Many young people I know identify with their sport, band or theater and thrive in those spaces. They can express themselves and feel safe doing so. Having to choose a career path for them is not a choice at all, but a message that these aren’t ways of contributing at all and only passing fancies.
I don’t want to live in a community without artists, athletes, or appliance technicians. When I was 15, I wasn’t talking about pro forma or contracts, and neither were my friends; we were laughing, making music and dreaming of changing the world. We should let our high schoolers today do the same.
— Connor Scher
Anchorage
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