What I Learned as a High School Teacher About How Education Connects to the Job Market
Last October, during parent-teacher conferences, I sat across from a mom and her 10th grader, Mia, at a wobbly folding table in our gym. The fluorescent lights hummed, someone left a half-empty paper cup of coffee next to my chair, and the mom had a folded printout of “2024’s Highest Paying Entry Level Jobs” sticking out of her canvas bag. Mia slouched in her chair, picking chipped blue nail polish off her thumb, while her mom explained the problem. Mia spends three hours every night after homework drawing stickers, designing flyers for student council, and editing reels for the school’s Instagram account. “That’s all fun,” her mom said, tapping the printout through the bag, “but it’s not going to get her a job. I keep telling her she needs to focus more on math and science, get into something steady.”
I nodded, because I’ve heard this same concern a hundred times in my 12 years teaching career prep. As she spoke, I thought of Javi, a student I had five years ago. Javi failed algebra II twice, and his parents pulled him out of the school’s auto tech elective to fit in a remedial math block. They were convinced if he didn’t get a four-year degree, he’d end up working a dead-end job for the rest of his life. I ran into Javi at the grocery store back in June, loading a case of water and a bag of dog food into his truck. He recognized me, came over to chat. He’s an apprentice lineman for the local electric co-op now, makes $28 an hour plus benefits, and will be fully qualified in another year. He told me the math he uses every day is basic addition and measuring, the stuff he learned in 9th grade. The skills he actually needs? Reading wiring diagrams, explaining to a homeowner why their power went out in plain language, and troubleshooting when the job doesn’t match the blueprints. His company is so short-staffed they’re offering new apprentices a $2,000 signing bonus, and half the openings don’t require a four-year degree.
That conversation stuck with me, because it shows how wrong most of us get the connection between education and the job market. We’re all chasing the list of top jobs right now, trying to cram our kids into the slots that look good on paper. But five years from now, that list will be totally different. Ten years ago, no one in our school was talking about UX design or solar panel installation or TikTok content management. Half the jobs Mia will be qualified for when she graduates college don’t have names yet. So what’s the point of pushing her to pick a “steady” path that might not exist when she’s ready to work?
I don’t blame parents for worrying. It’s scary to watch your kid head into a world that feels unpredictable. But there are small, specific things you can do at home that matter way more than pushing them toward a specific major or career right now. The first thing I tell parents is to stop asking “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and start asking “What problems do you like solving?” That question gets past the vague job titles and gets at what your kid actually enjoys doing. Mia likes solving the problem of how to make a message that gets people excited, or how to make a blank page into something people want to look at. That’s a skill that translates to graphic design, marketing, education, product design, a dozen different fields that are all hiring right now. When I pointed that out to Mia’s mom, she admitted she’d never thought of it that way – she just saw drawing as a silly hobby, not work experience.
Another thing: Encourage them to practice adjusting when things go wrong, instead of just prioritizing good grades. You can do this at home without any extra classes or expensive camps. When your kid comes home upset because their group project fell apart, or their bake sale didn’t make as much money as they planned, don’t step in to fix it for them, and don’t just tell them it’s okay. Ask them “What one thing would you change if you did it again?” That gets them used to thinking through mistakes, which is the skill employers say they can never find enough of. I even tell parents to talk about their own work mistakes out loud at dinner. Instead of only talking about work like something you have to get through, say something like “I messed up a report at work today, so I have to go back tomorrow and figure out how to fix it.” That normalizes problem-solving way more than any lesson at school.
If your kid already has a clear interest, suggest they spend 15 minutes chatting with someone who actually works in that field. Most people love talking about their job to a kid who’s curious, and it takes almost no effort to send a quick Facebook message to a friend of a friend to ask. For Mia and her mom, that small step changed everything. I suggested they stop by the small graphic design shop downtown that Mia had mentioned wanting to visit, just to ask the owner 10 minutes of questions about what her job is actually like. No pressure, just a chat. They went a week later, and last month Mia started a part-time internship there, designing social media graphics for local cafes and real estate agents. Her mom told me last week that Mia is already making more per hour than she made at her first office job out of college.
Mia still hasn’t decided if she’s going to apply to art school or a marketing program at the state college, and no one knows if graphic design will look the same in 10 years that it does now. I still have parents come to every conference convinced their kid’s passion is a dead end. I don’t have a crystal ball that tells me what the job market will look like in a decade, and I don’t think anyone else does either. But I’ve seen enough kids like Javi and Mia to know that education doesn’t work when we’re just trying to fit kids into the jobs that exist today. The best thing we can do is help them get good at the things that never go out of style: figuring out what they care about, solving problems, and adjusting when things don’t go the way we planned. Last week I walked past the local coffee shop and saw a sheet of Mia’s stickers for sale by the register. They’re silly, cute drawings of cats that say “Iced coffee first, adulting second.” They sold out in three days. That seems like a pretty good start to me.
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