Young people looking toward the future will spell success by learning to care.
Stephen M. Wolf, US Airways
May is a special time for millions of young Americans and their families, a time of pride, of celebration, and of change. Graduation from high school brings with it the welcome ritual of cap and gown, farewells to friends and mentors, and a step into the future of college or work.
It is a time when young women and men begin to take more control over the values that will shape their lives, and increasingly one hears that young people today are focusing more and more on what it takes to get a good job and perhaps somewhat less on other aspects of life.
“There is a lot of fear about not being able to 'make it' and be happy, more so than ever. Kids are afraid they will not be able to live to the level of their parents. They are not going to college to learn, but to get a career,” said one very experienced counselor who works with young people looking for a college.
This focus on the job that may result from a college education, rather than on broader preparation for life, is reinforced by an additional factor at play: the sheer cost of a college education these days. Joyce Smith, who heads the National Association of College Admissions Counselors, puts it this way:
“College costs are going up, so parents and students also are paying attention to their investment. Families, as consumers, continue to look at the quality of education a college offers. Now, with an eye to future jobs, they also are asking about the number of recruiters that come to a campus each year. If a loan is $10,000 or $12,000 a year, you worry more about the career or job that lies at the end.”
This is a development that is both encouraging and worrisome.
“College years are meant to be a time of exploring the great variety of experiences life has to offer, whether in the classroom, on the theater stage, in the concert hall, on the playing field ... ”
As one who leads an organization where careers are made and lived out, it is encouraging that a large number of very talented young people want to build substantial careers. This is important for the great institutions of our society, whether they are business, governmental, or not-for-profit.
At the same time, such a singular focus on getting a well-paying job leaves open the possibility that many young people will enter the workplace superbly trained in a technical sense but less ready to embrace life in general or less interested in our society beyond the workplace. This is worrisome.
Over the years, I have had occasion to work with many very talented individuals, and the very best of those are people who not only have superb technical abilities and a commitment to excellence, but also a sense of caring about the world in which we live. As young people and their families prepare for this graduation season, I would encourage them to look beyond the workplace to the broader field upon which life will be played.
Are we to preserve and protect our environment, or stand by and see it degraded and lost forever to future generations? Are we to nurture the theater and the arts for the richness they bring to life, or are we to stand by and see our lives become increasingly narrow? Are we to recognize that there are many in our society who do not yet have the opportunity to develop their full potentials, or are we to stand by and allow injustices, however unintended, to continue?
It is our youth, the next generation of leaders, who hold the answers to these questions. While many young people begin to develop a sense of values in the years before high-school graduation, it is with the independence of college or a job that one's outlook on life takes more permanent form. If this outlook is reduced at the outset to the parameters of the workplace, then both the individual and our society will have lost a great opportunity.
College years are meant to be a time of exploring the great variety of experiences life has to offer, whether in the classroom, on the theater stage, in the concert hall, on the playing field, through travel, or simply in the continuous interchange with other bright and inquiring people. The senior seminar in philosophy, full of lively debate, is as important as the course on business practices or advanced computer applications. The time spent working with youth groups to clean a riverbank or parkland is as important as the experiment in the chemistry lab.
It is through this great breadth of experience that one prepares for the future in all its phases and becomes a well-rounded employee and citizen.
To the parent or the student looking at this important phase of life, keep in mind that the sought after employee is more than the one who has mastered the skills of accounting or the techniques of the laboratory. Great companies and good governments are made up of people who think broadly, innovate, and work in teams as they reach out to others in search of a solution. They are places where talented individuals share their skills and analytical abilities, and then share in the joy of success.
They are also places full of people who care about others and about the world in which we live. It is through this combination that the enterprise flourishes, the individual flourishes, and our world is a better place in which to live.
From “US Airways Attaché,” May, 1999. Reprinted with permission of US Airways.