shortly after takeoff the captain of an
aircraft comes on the public
announcement system and says ladies and
gentlemen I have some good news for you
and some not so good news for you first
let me share the good news the good news
is that we are at 35,000 feet we have a
tank full of fuel the engines are
working like a dream we’re racing at 950
kilometres an hour the weather outside
is beautiful
the bad news though is that our
navigation system has failed so we don’t
really know where we are going
enjoy the ride for as long as you can a
lot of young people today are leaving
high schools just like aircrafts without
a navigation system there is a lot of
knowledge and insight that we gather
through the curriculum but the direction
the GPS which is their advising system
counseling about careers about colleges
has been lucky and no wonder when you
have a crust without navigation systems
you’re going to have accidents there are
a lot of accidents that happen I met
with an accident I’m an engineer by
accident most people think I’m an
engineer by education but I’m really an
engineer by accident here’s my story I
think last night when my mother asked me
today who do you want to become I said I
want to become Molly and Brian
my mother said who’s Molly O’Brien she
was shocked I said she’s my math teacher
she said are you crazy don’t you want to
become an engineer or a doctor I said no
I want to become a leader Brian and my
mother responded in him
c-shape she said with a Buchan Amarna
which translated in english means son i
don’t want you to stop my mother loved
me anonymously and she really cared
about me and she did not want me to end
up being unsuccessful she perceived
teaching to be not a sound profession
financially little wonder like many
people in my country I got pushed and
shoved around a terrible in biology did
really well in physics and math ended up
being an engineer but I was stubborn
while all my friends ended up going to
work for technology companies and doing
some great stuff I started teaching and
I also started counseling because I was
worried about more accidents happening
like me out there in the world so I
guess what six years later I was
struggling financially what my mother
said was absolutely true
that I was at I was struggling the fact
is that I asked myself the question how
do I feel at 5:00 a.m. in the morning
when I leave to go to work how do I feel
at 8:30 or 9:30 p.m. in the evening when
I am teaching a class and I felt really
special
I spent full of energy all I needed to
do was to add a little bit of
entrepreneurship to my passion and my
love for teaching and counseling but I
had grown up with a fear that was sown
in my mind as early as class 9 with
regard to teaching as a profession I
managed to be successful as a teacher
and a
College counselor but I had to conquer
this fear there wasn’t a person I could
go back to at that point in school and
ask them is this such a scary profession
can I be successful as a teacher is
there a possibility for me to be happy
and joyous and wealthy and successful
my accident because of my stubbornness
and my good fortune was not fatal but
many of these accidents are fatal
killing the creativity the happiness the
well-being of a lot of young people
Gallup did a survey or published a
report the latest report says
eighty-five percent of employees around
the world it’s the global workplace
report the state of the global workplace
report it says eighty-five percent of
the employees worldwide are either not
engaged or actively disengaged in their
jobs eighty-five percent of employees
are either not engaged or actively
disengaged in their jobs you’ve got a
lot of people who aren’t enjoying their
jobs out there in the world while there
is the productivity and economic cost to
this there is also a human customers you
have unhappiness that is spread all
around us if we want our young people to
grow up to be happy and joyous beings
we’ve got to provide them guidance and
advising and career and college
counseling and provide it early not
30 or not six years later or 10 years
later after they begin their profession
like me it is critical that we get good
advice for people as early as possible
in school career in college counseling
guidance for students is not just luxury
anymore it used to be at some point it’s
an absolute critical necessity we got to
wake up and bring some systemic changes
and one of the things that I
experimented with was the counseling
laboratory that had magical effects so
what is a counseling laboratory it is
not just a physical space but any
thoughts of culture of mindset within
schools that encourages exploration
discovery make encourages of process
that brings careers and colleges alive
let me give you an example there’s a
young man I met who was passionate about
music and he said sir
I want to pursue a Bachelor degree music
but my father is very very clear I would
he only wants me to study business there
was no way this father was gonna budge I
I said to this young man give me some
time and I’ll get some information over
to you for you to share with your father
I worked part-time in a school at that
time I brought back a project for about
20 students and these students were in
class 8 9 10 11 and 12 throughout high
school as well as in Class A and we
broke these 20 students down into four
groups of
each and they collaborated to come up
with a dossier of information the first
section
talked about the multi-billion dollar
music industry it’s a huge massive
opportunity music as an industry the
second section talked about 40 different
careers that one could have with music
these are students coming up with this
information everything from music
performance to music therapy music is
being used to heal people
the third section came up with the
courier’s in the stories of 12 people
who pursued music as education worship
music at the bachelor degree level and
their success and the fourth group of
students came up with a perspective on
where music was going to be in 30 years
time as an industry how it was will grow
the fact is these guys even map the
industrial revolutions the first and so
on
the so called fourth and fifth
Industrial Revolution and they showed
that human beings had more time free
time for creative activity for drama
theater videos watching stuff on YouTube
and they’d have more time to listen to
music so music was not just a great
industry to be in it was also to grow
over the next 30 years
the father who said this and this
student ends up pursuing a Bachelor
degree in music this is the magic of the
counseling laboratory what was needed
was investigation and research while the
student hadn’t interests he what he
needed really was some support if we
have a culture of investigating of
finding out of exploring not just
through one korean college counselor but
the entire ethos of the school every
teacher whether
she teaches economics physics
mathematics or psychology if he or she
is in some way or for a career in
college counselor students will study
these books these academic books with so
much more excitement just like they’re
reading Harry Potter they would have a
context of where what they’re studying
is going to be used and where it is
being used
no young individual today in the world
wants to study something today and use
it 20 years later you want to see what
you study today in your life today where
does it fit and this culture is what
comes through a counseling laboratory
and it’s not just about the future it’s
about the present moment as well
students learn to do research they learn
to interview people go out and
investigate they learn to make
presentations they learn to manage data
and then learn to experience careers and
colleges the parents come together the
teachers come together everybody starts
to collaborate let me tell you about
another young man 26 year old dentist I
meant he said to me sir I am fed up of
looking at ugly feet for five years and
I want to study hotel management and I
was in shock I was like what must have
gone wrong with this young man I know so
many dentists that absolutely love their
job they think that it’s it’s you know
they’re like sculptors and painters and
they love to work with teeth if only
there was a counseling laboratory in the
school for this young man where he had a
chance to go and speak to a few dentists
to investigate what this profession was
going to be like to go and look into a
few people
about he possibly be a much happier
we have a challenge to fix a broken
system with career and college
counseling not just in one or two
countries but around the world my
research shows that we need a ton for
every hundred and twenty students from
class eight onwards till class twelve we
need one career and college counselor we
need as many career and college
counselors in a school as we have math
teachers in a school or English teachers
in a school and we can’t outsource this
work we don’t outsource the principal’s
job or the teachers job we don’t want to
set out more airplanes in the world
without a navigation system too many
accidents too many crashes in 1970 there
was a book that is written called Future
Shop by an amazing thinker and futurist
I’ve been tough love I haven’t toughness
said the illiterate of the 21st century
will not be those who cannot read or
write the illiterate of the 21st century
will be those who cannot learn unlearn
and relearn it’s time we woke up and we
unlearned our ideas about guidance and
advising not fixing problems with 30
year olds that are having stress
disorders but guiding our young people
as early as high school and even before
that to make good decisions and
experiencing the magic through the
counseling laboratory career in college
counseling embedded in school culture
can transform love young lives forever
thank you very much [Applause]
aircraft comes on the public
announcement system and says ladies and
gentlemen I have some good news for you
and some not so good news for you first
let me share the good news the good news
is that we are at 35,000 feet we have a
tank full of fuel the engines are
working like a dream we’re racing at 950
kilometres an hour the weather outside
is beautiful
the bad news though is that our
navigation system has failed so we don’t
really know where we are going
enjoy the ride for as long as you can a
lot of young people today are leaving
high schools just like aircrafts without
a navigation system there is a lot of
knowledge and insight that we gather
through the curriculum but the direction
the GPS which is their advising system
counseling about careers about colleges
has been lucky and no wonder when you
have a crust without navigation systems
you’re going to have accidents there are
a lot of accidents that happen I met
with an accident I’m an engineer by
accident most people think I’m an
engineer by education but I’m really an
engineer by accident here’s my story I
think last night when my mother asked me
today who do you want to become I said I
want to become Molly and Brian
my mother said who’s Molly O’Brien she
was shocked I said she’s my math teacher
she said are you crazy don’t you want to
become an engineer or a doctor I said no
I want to become a leader Brian and my
mother responded in him
c-shape she said with a Buchan Amarna
which translated in english means son i
don’t want you to stop my mother loved
me anonymously and she really cared
about me and she did not want me to end
up being unsuccessful she perceived
teaching to be not a sound profession
financially little wonder like many
people in my country I got pushed and
shoved around a terrible in biology did
really well in physics and math ended up
being an engineer but I was stubborn
while all my friends ended up going to
work for technology companies and doing
some great stuff I started teaching and
I also started counseling because I was
worried about more accidents happening
like me out there in the world so I
guess what six years later I was
struggling financially what my mother
said was absolutely true
that I was at I was struggling the fact
is that I asked myself the question how
do I feel at 5:00 a.m. in the morning
when I leave to go to work how do I feel
at 8:30 or 9:30 p.m. in the evening when
I am teaching a class and I felt really
special
I spent full of energy all I needed to
do was to add a little bit of
entrepreneurship to my passion and my
love for teaching and counseling but I
had grown up with a fear that was sown
in my mind as early as class 9 with
regard to teaching as a profession I
managed to be successful as a teacher
and a
College counselor but I had to conquer
this fear there wasn’t a person I could
go back to at that point in school and
ask them is this such a scary profession
can I be successful as a teacher is
there a possibility for me to be happy
and joyous and wealthy and successful
my accident because of my stubbornness
and my good fortune was not fatal but
many of these accidents are fatal
killing the creativity the happiness the
well-being of a lot of young people
Gallup did a survey or published a
report the latest report says
eighty-five percent of employees around
the world it’s the global workplace
report the state of the global workplace
report it says eighty-five percent of
the employees worldwide are either not
engaged or actively disengaged in their
jobs eighty-five percent of employees
are either not engaged or actively
disengaged in their jobs you’ve got a
lot of people who aren’t enjoying their
jobs out there in the world while there
is the productivity and economic cost to
this there is also a human customers you
have unhappiness that is spread all
around us if we want our young people to
grow up to be happy and joyous beings
we’ve got to provide them guidance and
advising and career and college
counseling and provide it early not
30 or not six years later or 10 years
later after they begin their profession
like me it is critical that we get good
advice for people as early as possible
in school career in college counseling
guidance for students is not just luxury
anymore it used to be at some point it’s
an absolute critical necessity we got to
wake up and bring some systemic changes
and one of the things that I
experimented with was the counseling
laboratory that had magical effects so
what is a counseling laboratory it is
not just a physical space but any
thoughts of culture of mindset within
schools that encourages exploration
discovery make encourages of process
that brings careers and colleges alive
let me give you an example there’s a
young man I met who was passionate about
music and he said sir
I want to pursue a Bachelor degree music
but my father is very very clear I would
he only wants me to study business there
was no way this father was gonna budge I
I said to this young man give me some
time and I’ll get some information over
to you for you to share with your father
I worked part-time in a school at that
time I brought back a project for about
20 students and these students were in
class 8 9 10 11 and 12 throughout high
school as well as in Class A and we
broke these 20 students down into four
groups of
each and they collaborated to come up
with a dossier of information the first
section
talked about the multi-billion dollar
music industry it’s a huge massive
opportunity music as an industry the
second section talked about 40 different
careers that one could have with music
these are students coming up with this
information everything from music
performance to music therapy music is
being used to heal people
the third section came up with the
courier’s in the stories of 12 people
who pursued music as education worship
music at the bachelor degree level and
their success and the fourth group of
students came up with a perspective on
where music was going to be in 30 years
time as an industry how it was will grow
the fact is these guys even map the
industrial revolutions the first and so
on
the so called fourth and fifth
Industrial Revolution and they showed
that human beings had more time free
time for creative activity for drama
theater videos watching stuff on YouTube
and they’d have more time to listen to
music so music was not just a great
industry to be in it was also to grow
over the next 30 years
the father who said this and this
student ends up pursuing a Bachelor
degree in music this is the magic of the
counseling laboratory what was needed
was investigation and research while the
student hadn’t interests he what he
needed really was some support if we
have a culture of investigating of
finding out of exploring not just
through one korean college counselor but
the entire ethos of the school every
teacher whether
she teaches economics physics
mathematics or psychology if he or she
is in some way or for a career in
college counselor students will study
these books these academic books with so
much more excitement just like they’re
reading Harry Potter they would have a
context of where what they’re studying
is going to be used and where it is
being used
no young individual today in the world
wants to study something today and use
it 20 years later you want to see what
you study today in your life today where
does it fit and this culture is what
comes through a counseling laboratory
and it’s not just about the future it’s
about the present moment as well
students learn to do research they learn
to interview people go out and
investigate they learn to make
presentations they learn to manage data
and then learn to experience careers and
colleges the parents come together the
teachers come together everybody starts
to collaborate let me tell you about
another young man 26 year old dentist I
meant he said to me sir I am fed up of
looking at ugly feet for five years and
I want to study hotel management and I
was in shock I was like what must have
gone wrong with this young man I know so
many dentists that absolutely love their
job they think that it’s it’s you know
they’re like sculptors and painters and
they love to work with teeth if only
there was a counseling laboratory in the
school for this young man where he had a
chance to go and speak to a few dentists
to investigate what this profession was
going to be like to go and look into a
few people
about he possibly be a much happier
we have a challenge to fix a broken
system with career and college
counseling not just in one or two
countries but around the world my
research shows that we need a ton for
every hundred and twenty students from
class eight onwards till class twelve we
need one career and college counselor we
need as many career and college
counselors in a school as we have math
teachers in a school or English teachers
in a school and we can’t outsource this
work we don’t outsource the principal’s
job or the teachers job we don’t want to
set out more airplanes in the world
without a navigation system too many
accidents too many crashes in 1970 there
was a book that is written called Future
Shop by an amazing thinker and futurist
I’ve been tough love I haven’t toughness
said the illiterate of the 21st century
will not be those who cannot read or
write the illiterate of the 21st century
will be those who cannot learn unlearn
and relearn it’s time we woke up and we
unlearned our ideas about guidance and
advising not fixing problems with 30
year olds that are having stress
disorders but guiding our young people
as early as high school and even before
that to make good decisions and
experiencing the magic through the
counseling laboratory career in college
counseling embedded in school culture
can transform love young lives forever
thank you very much [Applause]
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