When parents first enroll their children in school they do so in hopes that their child will one day receive enough education to find a job and be able to live a happy, successful and stable life. However, the pressure of figuring out what you want to be when you grow up can become overwhelming for many. Some students may feel as though they have to have their future plans sorted out by the time they graduate high school when in fact that is not the case. Students should not feel pressured to know what they want to be for the rest of their lives when they are barely advancing through high school. 

Many parents want to see their children succeed, and at times in their quest to lead their child to success, they lead them to failure. Students should not have to feel the pressure of knowing what they want to be when they grow up at such a young age. They should be able to figure it out naturally and without pressure from their loved ones or other influential people such as teachers. In a TED Talk, speaker Casey Brown expresses the importance of enjoying your youth and what comes along with it. 

“Truly, what I wish I’d done differently during the past 20 years is enjoyed the ride and engaged in less hand-wringing over my decisions,” Brown said.

The TED talk shows that worrying too much about what you want to do when you are older can cause regrets. Constantly trying to have your life 100% “figured out” will cause you to look back at your memories and realize you wasted time instead of enjoying your ride.

In addition to this, a survey of 165,000 high schoolers by YouthTruth, revealed that only 45% of students felt as though they were ready and prepared for college and their future career. That means that over 50% of students still were unsure of what they wanted to be and that is by no means a negative thing. There are a variety of resources available for students to be successful so there is no reason to stress. 

The worry of knowing what you want your future to be should not fall on students at such a young age. They should be able to “go with the flow” and naturally figure out what they are passionate about with the support of their parents. Even if they do not know what they are passionate about there are still many college opportunities, such as liberal arts colleges, that allow students to try new things and figure out their major. This also saves families money as they do not have to spend tons of money on tuition for their student to realize that they do not like their chosen major.