what do you want to be when you grow up
a question asked to us dozens of times
in our lives but the question what do
you want to be when you grow up can mean
so many different things based on just
your age alone as young children we have
become accustomed to adults posing this
question on us but they never take the
answer something serious what they are
looking for is a cute answer that they
can laugh about they never take your
answer as something serious because they
rarely believe your answer will stay the
same for the rest of your life I don’t
think of it as something to forget about
as life progresses but as one begins to
get older and closer and closer to
entering college the question what do
you want to be when you grow up is it so
cute anymore when this question is asked
to teens the pressure is on to know
exactly what your future is going to be
like and sure even if you think you know
the answer there’s never any definite
way to know until you’re working in that
field and many people believe that once
you begin to learn the experience that
particular field that is the end of it
in reality most college students change
their major at least once in their
college career in addition to that the
average person holds ten different
careers before age forty and twelve to
fifteen different careers in their
entire life and that number is projected
to grow when reading these statistics I
was shocked to learn that so many people
had changed their idea of what they want
to be when they grow up so I decided to
see how the people in my life ended up
in the careers that they did before
getting into my experience let’s talk
some of the facts as said before 80
percent of all college students change
their major at least once in their
college career but it can start even
before that if in today’s world 1/2 of
all college students entering college
enter as an undeclared so for those
people 18 maybe even more years later
the question what do you want to be when
you grow up still has yet to be answered
and for the people who do enter and
graduate college with a degree only
one-half of those people enter a field
related to their major when reading the
when reading these I was shocked why
would people spend hundreds of thousands
of dollars on a college degree
only to end up changing their ideas
we’ll talk more about that later in a
TED talk given by Meg J entitled why 30
is not the new 20 she brings up many
facts reasoning about why once you turn
30 your life isn’t set in stone and yes
80% of life’s most defining moments
happen before age 35 getting married
building a family purchasing a home and
so much more happen in these first 35
years but what about that other 20%
I know 20% may sound small but it can
turn into something huge with an that
could be the day you decide you don’t
like your career and wanting to change
it with that said I began to talk to
some of the most important people in my
life I always knew what they did for a
living but never took the time to look
into how they got there take my mother
for example when I spoke to her I
learned that when she was around the
fourth or fifth grade she decided she
wanted to become an archaeologist when
she grew up so she would be able to dig
in Egypt all day but as she entered high
school there were a lot of different
dreams things like languages but also
fashion and engineering so when she
entered college she decided to major in
Spanish hoping to go into the field of
international business one of her first
jobs after college was working on a
company called champion as a senior
underwriter but this wasn’t an
international job so her goals were
already changing after working there for
a while she decided to take a 10-year
hiatus to become a stay-at-home mom for
my brothers and I but as we became more
self-sufficient she knew it was time to
re-enter the workforce but now her goals
had completely altered she needed to
find a job that she could both work at
but also be home with her family enough
so she decided to try substitute
teaching to see if you enjoy working in
the education system and she absolutely
loved it
a few years later she worked to become
certified in special education and now
working that field for over five years
she couldn’t be happier
so with this I learned my mother was
actually a part of the 50% that had
earned a college degree and ended up
that education not being directly
beneficial to her in any of her careers
my father on the other hand was
completely different when I spoke to him
I learned that when he was around the
fourth or fifth grade he said he wanted
to be a lawyer when he grew up and
when he entered high school although
lawyer still was one of his ideas he was
also thinking in law enforcement or
business so he went to college and made
it in marketing because that was the
branch of business he felt most
connected to his first job after college
was selling insurance to people and has
worked in the field of business ever
since so with this I learned my father
was actually a part of the 50% of people
who whose degree is beneficial to them
in their career
so in my own home two people were using
their education in two completely
different ways and if people like Walt
Disney fit in the 50 percent of people
who don’t use their original degrees one
of Walt’s first Jobs was working as a
newspaper editor in Kansas but was
eventually fired because he lacked
imagination and had no good ideas now a
company worth 91 billion dollars and
earned this worth with creativity and
very good ideas started with someone who
apparently lacked both of these being
fired led Walt to begin attending
drawing classes at the Chicago Arts
Institute
and these classes led him to become the
man he is today
so being fired and changing his goals
was actually the best thing that could
have happened to him going back to what
I said earlier why would people spend
hundreds of thousands of dollars on a
college degree only to end up changing
their ideas well in a study done by the
University of Laverne it’s said the
truth is more than one-half of all
college graduates enter a field not
related to their major with this said
people today can still go to college and
that education not be directly
beneficial to them at all especially in
today’s world where jobs are getting
sparser employees do look to see that
you have some form of education before
being given a job so for those people
they don’t know what they want to be
when they grow and that’s completely
fine as for me I am still years and
years away from entering college but
with these last few months reach
researching this topic in such depth
I’ve had a lot of time to think about
what this question means to me when I
was around four years old I said I
wanted to be a pet rumor when I grew up
now I would never be a pet groomer
because ten years later my outlook has
changed and so what if I earn a degree
and end up not using it or join a field
just to end up leaving as long as I’m
happy and successful in my career that’s
all I’m focused on right now but that is
just me I’m sure you can ask any other
kid right now and they’ll tell you
exactly what they want to be with a girl
and they will end up joining that field
and be extremely successful everyone is
different I leave you with this
next time you’ll ask someone what do you
want to be when you grow up think about
what you’re really asking are you
looking for something serious or
something that will certainly be
forgotten about and when asking this
question to teens isn’t it better to
teach them to have a strong work ethic
then make them commit to one specific
career kids are the future and don’t we
all want the future to be an amazing
place
so the question what do you want to be
when you grow really does mean more than
you think
remember that thank you
[Applause]
a question asked to us dozens of times
in our lives but the question what do
you want to be when you grow up can mean
so many different things based on just
your age alone as young children we have
become accustomed to adults posing this
question on us but they never take the
answer something serious what they are
looking for is a cute answer that they
can laugh about they never take your
answer as something serious because they
rarely believe your answer will stay the
same for the rest of your life I don’t
think of it as something to forget about
as life progresses but as one begins to
get older and closer and closer to
entering college the question what do
you want to be when you grow up is it so
cute anymore when this question is asked
to teens the pressure is on to know
exactly what your future is going to be
like and sure even if you think you know
the answer there’s never any definite
way to know until you’re working in that
field and many people believe that once
you begin to learn the experience that
particular field that is the end of it
in reality most college students change
their major at least once in their
college career in addition to that the
average person holds ten different
careers before age forty and twelve to
fifteen different careers in their
entire life and that number is projected
to grow when reading these statistics I
was shocked to learn that so many people
had changed their idea of what they want
to be when they grow up so I decided to
see how the people in my life ended up
in the careers that they did before
getting into my experience let’s talk
some of the facts as said before 80
percent of all college students change
their major at least once in their
college career but it can start even
before that if in today’s world 1/2 of
all college students entering college
enter as an undeclared so for those
people 18 maybe even more years later
the question what do you want to be when
you grow up still has yet to be answered
and for the people who do enter and
graduate college with a degree only
one-half of those people enter a field
related to their major when reading the
when reading these I was shocked why
would people spend hundreds of thousands
of dollars on a college degree
only to end up changing their ideas
we’ll talk more about that later in a
TED talk given by Meg J entitled why 30
is not the new 20 she brings up many
facts reasoning about why once you turn
30 your life isn’t set in stone and yes
80% of life’s most defining moments
happen before age 35 getting married
building a family purchasing a home and
so much more happen in these first 35
years but what about that other 20%
I know 20% may sound small but it can
turn into something huge with an that
could be the day you decide you don’t
like your career and wanting to change
it with that said I began to talk to
some of the most important people in my
life I always knew what they did for a
living but never took the time to look
into how they got there take my mother
for example when I spoke to her I
learned that when she was around the
fourth or fifth grade she decided she
wanted to become an archaeologist when
she grew up so she would be able to dig
in Egypt all day but as she entered high
school there were a lot of different
dreams things like languages but also
fashion and engineering so when she
entered college she decided to major in
Spanish hoping to go into the field of
international business one of her first
jobs after college was working on a
company called champion as a senior
underwriter but this wasn’t an
international job so her goals were
already changing after working there for
a while she decided to take a 10-year
hiatus to become a stay-at-home mom for
my brothers and I but as we became more
self-sufficient she knew it was time to
re-enter the workforce but now her goals
had completely altered she needed to
find a job that she could both work at
but also be home with her family enough
so she decided to try substitute
teaching to see if you enjoy working in
the education system and she absolutely
loved it
a few years later she worked to become
certified in special education and now
working that field for over five years
she couldn’t be happier
so with this I learned my mother was
actually a part of the 50% that had
earned a college degree and ended up
that education not being directly
beneficial to her in any of her careers
my father on the other hand was
completely different when I spoke to him
I learned that when he was around the
fourth or fifth grade he said he wanted
to be a lawyer when he grew up and
when he entered high school although
lawyer still was one of his ideas he was
also thinking in law enforcement or
business so he went to college and made
it in marketing because that was the
branch of business he felt most
connected to his first job after college
was selling insurance to people and has
worked in the field of business ever
since so with this I learned my father
was actually a part of the 50% of people
who whose degree is beneficial to them
in their career
so in my own home two people were using
their education in two completely
different ways and if people like Walt
Disney fit in the 50 percent of people
who don’t use their original degrees one
of Walt’s first Jobs was working as a
newspaper editor in Kansas but was
eventually fired because he lacked
imagination and had no good ideas now a
company worth 91 billion dollars and
earned this worth with creativity and
very good ideas started with someone who
apparently lacked both of these being
fired led Walt to begin attending
drawing classes at the Chicago Arts
Institute
and these classes led him to become the
man he is today
so being fired and changing his goals
was actually the best thing that could
have happened to him going back to what
I said earlier why would people spend
hundreds of thousands of dollars on a
college degree only to end up changing
their ideas well in a study done by the
University of Laverne it’s said the
truth is more than one-half of all
college graduates enter a field not
related to their major with this said
people today can still go to college and
that education not be directly
beneficial to them at all especially in
today’s world where jobs are getting
sparser employees do look to see that
you have some form of education before
being given a job so for those people
they don’t know what they want to be
when they grow and that’s completely
fine as for me I am still years and
years away from entering college but
with these last few months reach
researching this topic in such depth
I’ve had a lot of time to think about
what this question means to me when I
was around four years old I said I
wanted to be a pet rumor when I grew up
now I would never be a pet groomer
because ten years later my outlook has
changed and so what if I earn a degree
and end up not using it or join a field
just to end up leaving as long as I’m
happy and successful in my career that’s
all I’m focused on right now but that is
just me I’m sure you can ask any other
kid right now and they’ll tell you
exactly what they want to be with a girl
and they will end up joining that field
and be extremely successful everyone is
different I leave you with this
next time you’ll ask someone what do you
want to be when you grow up think about
what you’re really asking are you
looking for something serious or
something that will certainly be
forgotten about and when asking this
question to teens isn’t it better to
teach them to have a strong work ethic
then make them commit to one specific
career kids are the future and don’t we
all want the future to be an amazing
place
so the question what do you want to be
when you grow really does mean more than
you think
remember that thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: