Attention class of 2011. Your future plans for life after high school should already be in progress. Don’t wait until this time next year to figure out what you want to do when your high school days are over.
While reading last week’s paper, I remembered cutting out an article entitled “My Future Plans” from last year’s newspaper and thought about several hidden messages I found in the future plans of last year’s graduates. I don’t know why I held on to this clipping and forgot all about until now.
“My Future Plans” lists quotes from several soon to be graduates as they talk about what they plan to do after graduating high school. A few of the quotes stood out to me and I circled what I thought were good and bad plans.
First I’ll point out the good. It is better for a person to have a good plan today versus waiting around for the perfect plan one day next week.
One young lady said that she had been accepted to Valdosta State University and planned to major in Biology in hopes of one day becoming a physician assistant. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me and the word that stood out to me in her plan was ACCEPTED. She had already been accepted to a school and was well on her way to achieving her goal. See the hidden message?
Another young lady said that she was going to attend the University of Georgia and major in family and consumer science (nutrition) and minor in business, with hope of later managing her own catering business. It’s apparent that she had done some research to know that family and consumer science was a major at UGA and was smart enough to minor in business because she wants to know how to properly run her catering business when it opens. I was very impressed with this one and wish her the best in whatever the future holds for her. See the hidden message?
One young man stated that he was going to pursue a career in the Navy and while he’s in, to get a degree in music education. I really liked this one a lot being a military man myself. See the hidden message?
Naturally, I am biased towards the Marine Corps and knew I wanted to be a Marine when I was 9 or 10 years old. Any branch of the armed forces is a good career choice for a young man or woman. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind at all if every young man was required to serve at least 2 years in the military after graduating high school. Being in the military is very tough at times, but it is also a great way of life. I think the discipline taught in the military would help in the development of honorable and respectable young men our society so badly needs.
Now on to the bad. I’ll preface this by saying the person that fails to plan, plans on failing.
A young man stated that he was going to be very successful in the nearest future by making a lot of money and doing great things out of life. I’m confused as to exactly how he going to make a lot of money and what great things he had in mind. This plan sounds like he’s going to be in jail for selling dope, or committing a violent crime within the next couple of years. See the hidden message?
A young lady said she plans to go to college and become an elementary math teacher and take care of her child. Sounds good on the surface, but what college is she going to? And we all know that having a child in high school doesn’t mean college is out of the picture, but it will make this goal more challenging to accomplish. See the hidden message?
Another young man said that his future plans are to go to college for at least four years and he’ll find out the rest from there. Really? Sounds like a recipe for not leaving Folkston and getting a job bagging groceries at the local Harvey’s, or flipping burgers at Dairy Queen. See the hidden message?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not here to bash these young people in no shape or form. I only want to bring attention to the hidden messages within some of these future plans.
I am a realist and understand that sometimes things happen in our lives that are beyond our control, or some of our future plans are derailed by self inflicted acts. The plans we have for ourselves may go completely opposite from what we initially intended.
At some point in life we all had to make adjustments to our plans based on the good and bad decisions we made. But the key is having a plan. Without a plan, young people are playing poker with their lives.
I often use a quote by an unknown author that simply states, “Plan ahead, it wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.” See the hidden message?
Originally published by the Charlton County Herald on May 25, 2010 http://www.charltoncountyherald.com/articles/2010/05/28/opinion/editorials/doc4bfbc5689410b235244234.txt
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