7-1-I-Search-Barbara

= The Affects of Age on Career Opinions = by Barbara Syska media type="custom" key="852561" **Introduction** When you were four years old what did you want to be when you grew up? Was it something like astronaut or maybe a fireman? What do you want to be now? Is your answer much different than when you were four? Now since you are older did your perspective on a career choice change? As you enter different stage of age your mind develops a more realistic sense of career choices. For example a young child might want to be a ballerina or a police officer but a teenager graduating from high school and only one summer away from college would have a career choice more like an engineer a doctor, technician ,lawyer or doctor things more on that train of thought. Not many girls would still want to be a ballerina at that age. That idea just wouldn't be very practical anymore. Things like ballerinas and high tech astronauts wouldn't cut it in a dog eat dog eat world anymore. What are some turning points of an adolescent state of mind to a mature state of mind?

I learned a while back that the older a child's mind is the more mature and developed it is. That is the reason why a kid might want to be a super spy when he's eight and a lawyer when he is eighteen. Certain Ages are different mile stones for the child's mind of development. On April 13, 2008 I learned that a research group called "Forbes" asked children at different stages ages what they wan to be when they grow up, and how much they would think that job would pay. Two seven year old second graders in Newark, NJ replied (Danielle) "I would like to be a model and I think it will make $505 dollars a year. Next Francisco replied that he, wants to be a secret super spy (SSS) and he thinks he will earn $500,000 dollars annually a year. Children have a good sense of what they want o be but sometimes it's not the most realistic plan. In order to find out, "Forbes" surveyed children between the ages 5 through 12. Thirty three five year old say that they want to be super heroes (it makes it the most popular career choice in Kinder garden). Three kinder gardeners hope to be princesses, and one is really counting on becoming sponge bob square pants. Next 33 six year olds would like you be firefighters. But what these six year olds don't know is that a firefighters annually salary is much below the estimated persons salary. Notice the difference of practically between the fifth graders choice of careers, and the sixth graders. for example sponge bob and a firefighter. Sponge bob is a job that could practically never happen (unless he playing his voice) and a firefighter is a job that might actually come true. Three sixth graders wanted to be police officers (also and under paid job). The younger the children wore in this experiment the less practical the job choice and older kids over thought how much jobs are being paid and picked More practical jobs. A group of eleven year olds believed that astronauts make $ 362,000 a year, that writers make $211, 00 a year, and dancers make $116,000 a year. In real life astronauts make $87,039 a year, writers make $58,080 a year. and $28,829 a year. Kids tend to decide their futures by how much a job pays, but most of the time they under estimate the pay or over estimate the pay of their dream jobs. (Information from www.forbes.com.)
 * Search:**

Many people think that the age eleven, or eight, seven their all just one age. A person is only eleven for one year or only seven but I learned on April 12, 2008 that that is not true. Thanks to www.school.familyeducation.com. The truth is that there are different stages of one age. Lets use the age eleven as an example. There's 11 and a half and the beginning of eleven, and of-course old eleven. Children don't recognize themselves as "11" but more like "almost 12" or "just turned eleven." And through development research, researchers proved that these ages have a big difference between one another. Two eleven year olds from the same district, school etc. were asked the some question what do they want to be when they grow up? Katie who just turned eleven wants to be a doctor, vet, teacher or lawyer. And Emma who is right about to turn 12 (11+) wants to be a vet, a farmer, or an archaeologist. Though the two share a similarity, they also have many differences. They both have a good idea how to match their personality to their dream job. Next to eight olds born in the same month had very different dream jobs even though similar ages, Jonathan wanted to be a gym teacher, Hebrew teacher, judge, artist, cook, magician, or professional athlete. Jonathan has option range wide open. Eric also eight wants to be a rap star, McDonald's guy, or a magician. Between the two boys they have one career choice in common. So is age the only factor affecting the job choices of children? This research proves no. The personality of the child plays an affect too. Let me elaborate. The personality affects the career choice because, if a person is interested in one subject more than an other than he is most likely to chose one job over another no matter what age. (Even if a kid is five and likes power rangers than he'll say he'll rather be a power ranger than a ballerina and vice Verse.) That is a new discovery that I've learned from Familyeducation.com. That children's career choices are not purely based age but personality too.

Children chose their careers because of different reasons so I decided to find out why by going to the experts the children themselves. In my life their are kids all around me therefore I have a first point account of age development. So I decided to hold two interviews towards my sisters. The first one is to my older sister who is 14 and a 9th grader in high school. And here is a link to a transcript of the interview interview:

After interviewing both sisters I found a trend between their answers. Both of their job choices included the money issue. The more money the better. The type of job the older sister wanted was suited her personality and was practical. But my little sisters career choices suited her money greed, but weren't very practical dreams for her personality. When she grows up her ideas of herself will grow and blossom and therefore her career choice will too. The two interviews proved that a child that is fourteen understands herself well enough to make a life decision, and a child that is 9 doesn't have the best understanding of themselves yet. When they grow up they'll experience things and learn from their mistakes.

Children also base their career choices on experiences (Waler). As children grow older they experience things that influence their career choices. For example a kid when he was 8 wanted to be a doctor, but then he split his head open and never wanted to even here the word doctor again. Children learn from their experiences. The older they get the more experiences. Kids are constantly surrounded by outside influences that play a great role on career choices. They might prefer one job over another because a family member or parent might be engaged in it. This might open one door of opportunity but completely over shadow others. That is why teachers and student counselor's advise parents to allow children to expand their minds, and let them experience new things. Children view the world form a very limited perspective. Although our perspective often doesn't expand as we grow we aren't given as much wider view "of the world of careers". Today schools are offered limited guidance to help make an already difficult choice harder. Many people the wide range of possibilities open to children today in the 21st century. So many things affect the career choice of a child.

On April 2cnd 2008, I found out what children from around New York to Around the World want to be when they grow up. Thanks to www.youthtwitter.com. I posted this question on youth twitter: I’m curious about how age affects what you want to be when you grow up. When you were very young, what did you want to be? How old are you now? And, what do you want to be? Is that different from when you were very young? I’m curious. Please respond. Thank you. From this question I received a few interesting comments. One I received from Marquis form Bronx, New York, "I am 12 and I want to work at Palladio like my grandmother.", the next comment is from Hannah from Philadelphia, "I am now 15. I've always wanted to work as an artist, a writer, a singer, or journalist. At times even a lawyer. Now I would like to be an interpreter. The next comment was from Soojin from South Korea, "I am 16 years old and I want to be an composer and make a new type of music. When I was young I wanted to be like Rambo and shoot people. Thought it was cool." The next post is from Nancy from Bronx New York, "How old are you now? And, what do you want to be? Is that different from when you were very young?” I’m 28, and first I wanted to be an astronaut, then a journalist, then a teacher, then a policy analyst but different paths lead me to different opportunities, so I embrace them." The next comment is from Madeline Brownstone form New York,” When I was in High School girls thought about becoming nurses, teachers, hygienist, but times have changed." The next comment is from Allison Paul from the Bronx: "Next year I’ll be half a century old, and I want to keep learning as a teacher. When I was 18 I wanted to be a photographer" and the last comment was from Honolulu Hawaii she sais, "I’m 17 now, and I used to want to be a scientist. My favorite subject has always been English, though. Now I want to be a learner.’ The youth twitter results bring me to understand that teenagers have a certain range (from kids all over the world from Korea to Hawaii) of jobs they like but they almost all share something in common. These jobs have to do with money. Teens know how harsh and cruel life can be without money so they aim for a job like and can make big bucks out off. Does this trend also come up in younger children's career choices or is it only a teen gene?

Do small children share the greed gene with the greed teens? Is their career choice based on salary or passion. Researchers prove that children who grow up in the city have a much bigger greed fro money. Younger children have a greater innocence in life. They don't know about money, and speak form the heart. An older child bases their decisions more logically. Thinking about money, and finance, cars, houses. Some people find a job they hate but make good money, and money over shadows what they would like to do. Now even small children decided their career choices through money. Like too a four year old girl of Kansas in her words "lots of money can buy me lots of ponies." So money does affect what children want to be when they grow up. I've learned from this entire collection of information that to learn about the development of age and mind of children in sync then you have to take into consideration many other factors. The personality of a person. Where they grew up? Who raised them? If convicts raised them they must not have very high standards but if raised by good parents hopes can be high. What kind of people did they grow up around? Money is a big factor too! Many things have to be taken into consideration when all these things are balanced then you could fairly judge the results of surveys research and search projects.

It is difficult to tell the differences of what a kid wants to be when they grow up when their 4 or when there18. That is because there are different factors to consider. Such as where the person grew up Was it in the city? Or in a small town. You have to take the persons likes and dislikes into consideration as well. If some little kids like race cars over fire trucks then evidently he wants to be a race car driver. One thing is certain as you grow up so does your mind. The Childs mind develops a more realistic approach to life. One source that help me developed this idea is the interviews. See even tough my sisters are at two different ages approxamently 5-6 years apart and dream of different jobs, they both want one goal money. A young child wants the money in a more unpractical job approach. The older child finds a job suiting her interests yet filling the greed hole with money. Throughout studies children find jobs too best match what they like but they think all these jobs make millions and millions of dollars, every kid has the greed gene. It seems to be most popular in teens (AKA The Teen Greed Gene.) It seems to be the only things all these kids nation to nation share. A thirst for the good old green buck but as the kid grows their mind finds ways to be clever about getting that money such as being a doctor.
 * Conclusion**:


 * Persons to Interview: Children at Differnet Ages (such as my two sisters one in grade school the other in high school.)**

**Works Cited:**
Brownstone, Madeline. "Madeline Brownstone At BSGE, NYC." __www.youthtwiiter.com__. 31 Mar. 2008. 15 Apr. 2008 http://www.youthtwitter.com/author/mbrownstone.

Cavillones, Nancy. "Nancy Cavillones, Bronx, NY." __www.youthtwitter.com__. 31 Mar. 2008. 15 Apr. 2008 http://www.youthtwitter.com/author/nbrodsky.

Davidson, Margy. "When I Grow Up I Want to Be...." 13 Apr. 2008 http://schollfamilyeducation.com/identity/achievment/38472.html?for_printing=1.

Ewalt, David M. "When I Grow Up:Kids, Dream Jobs." __Forbes.Com__. 13 Apr. 2008 http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/09/kids-dream-jobs-ent-dream1007-cx_de_1009salary.html.

Feldman, Hannah. "Hannah At SLA, Philadelphia, PA." __www.youthtwitter.com__. 1 Apr. 2008. 15 Apr. 2008 http://www.youthtwitter.com/author/hfeldman.

Jamison, Waller. "CareerCahnge-What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?" __www.ezine@rticles.com__. 13 Apr. 2008 .

Kim, Joshua. __www.youthtwitter.com__. 8 Apr. 2008 http://www.youthtwitter.com/author/13kimj.

Lindsea. "Lindsea At Punahou School, Honolulu, Hawaii." __www.youthtwitter.com__. 15 Apr. 2008. 15 Apr. 2008 http://www.youthtwitter.com/author/lindseak.

Marquis, J. "Marquis At EBAFF, Bronx, NY." 2 Apr. 2008. 15 Apr. 2008 http://www.youthtwitter.com/author/marquisj.

Paul, Allison. "Paul Allison At EBAFF, Bronx, NY." __www.youthtwitter.com__. 15 Apr. 2008. 15 Apr. 2008 <[|http://www.youthtwitter.com/author/paulallison>.]

"Soojin At KIS, Bundang, South Korea." 1 Apr. 2008. 15 Apr. 2008 <[|http://www.youthtwitter.com/author/soojinl10>.]

Syska, Anna S. Personal interview. 13 Apr. 2008.

Syska, Joanna M. Personal interview. 13 Apr. 2008.