Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1. Getting Real: New Realities for Postsecondary Success
A New Goal: Postsecondary Success
Career Direction and the "Fourth" R
Career Maturity and Career Direction
Career Exploration Activities and Career Maturity
Career Development Programs: Are They Effective?
Society's Ambivalence About Career Choice
The Role of Public Schools
Making the Case for Career Development Programs
Part I. Understanding Those We Try to Help “Get Real”
2. Today’s Teens and Their Parents
3. Dropouts, Teens With Disabilities, and Graduates Seeking Full Time Employment
Getting Real and High School Dropouts
Getting Real and Special Populations
High School Graduates Who Seek Full Time Employment
4. Creating Opportunities by Countering Stereotypes
Gender Stereotypes and Earnings: Education or Occupation?
Occupational Stereotyping: Minorities and the Economically Disadvantaged
Part II. Understanding Labor Market Fundamentals
5. Labor Market Misunderstandings and Bad Advice
Misunderstanding 1: A University Degree Guarantees Access to High Wages
Misunderstanding 2: A University Degree Guarantees Access to Professional Careers
Misunderstanding 3: High Tech Careers Require a University Degree
Misunderstanding 4: Career Planning Is Worthless Because People Change Jobs All the Time Anyway
Misunderstanding 5: University Graduates Will Take All the Good Jobs
Labor Market Advantage: The Secret to Getting High-Skill / High-Wage Employment
Bad Advice Given to Teens
Will Tentative Career Decisions Close the Door to Future Opportunity?
6. Occupational Projections, Technical and Middle Skill Employment
I: Using Labor Market Information
II: Occupational Projections
III: The Other Way to Win: Technical and Middle-Skill Occupations
A Selective List of Technical and Middle Skilled Occupations: This Is Rocket Science
Part III. Strategies to Promote Career Direction
7. Career Success, Decision Making, and Teens
The Path to Career Success?
Characteristics of a Career Mature Teenager
Career Decision Making Anxiety of Teens
Reducing Teen Anxiety Over Making Career Decisions
8. Strategies to Promote Adolescent Career Maturity and Direction
Student Outcome Goals for Career Development Program
Outcome Goal 1: Promoting a Tentative Career Direction While in the 10th Grade
Outcome Goal 2: Verifying Tentative Career Directions
Outcome Goal 3: Develop a Postsecondary Plan
Providing Career Counseling
9. Considering “All” the Alternatives
Traditional Formal Education Alternatives
The “Bridge” or “Prep” Year
10. Six-Step Plan for Postsecondary Success
Parents and Career Choice
Six-Step Plan for Postsecondary Success
Helping Parents With Difficult Choices
11. Getting Real and the Role of the Business Community
12. How Are Teenagers Best Served, Nutritional Lies or Reality?
Five Premises for Success
Well-Intended but Bad Advice Given to Teens
References
Index