Things You Don't Want to Hear from an Emergency Room Nurse (December 14, 2018)

Things you Don't Want to Hear from an Emergency Room Nurse

Willits's Weekly Wonderings Seven (4)

One of the things I like most about being a school counselor is initiating discussions with 8th grade students about what they want to do "when they grow up," (I admonish them to not feel any pressure to know so young, as I confess that I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up!). Recently, I had a colleague share a story with me that increased my concern for the vocational future of our students. My colleague was having severe pain and ended up in the emergency room. Being the great educator that they are, their pain did not inhibit them from engaging in a conversation with the nurse providing their direct care. After learning where the nurse grew up, attended school, and studied to become a nurse, my colleague heard her emergency room nurse profess: "I don't really want to be a nurse. I just need something to do to pay back my student loans." I'm not sure the nurse's confession would top my list of things I'd prefer not to hear in an emergency room ("Hold still, this is going to hurt;" "Hopefully, this will stop the bleeding;"), but it certainly would crack the top ten. Am I wrong to wish our student's future occupations provide something more than the capacity to pay off debt? What about you? What do you most want for your student's post-secondary future? Last wondering, I referenced challenging statistics for Iowa students: 90% graduate high school; 71% enroll in post-secondary education; 43-47% complete post-secondary credential I write these statistics on the board almost every day in my class with 8th grade students. My hope is our Sioux Center graduates would be included in the 43%-47% of students that finish, or even better, contribute to raising that percentage. According to at least one person, I am not the ideal person to be providing career advice to students, and my deficiency is contributing to a pending workforce crisis! Letter to America: We Need Technicians (~3 minute read)

I agree with Dr. Clark . . . not the part about me sucking at my job . . . the part about needing more technicians. Here are some numbers (2015) specific to Iowa to reiterate Dr. Clark's advocacy for not only technicians, but other jobs with "middle level" training: 15% of jobs require low-skill training 54% of jobs require middle-skill training 30% of jobs require high-skill training To be clear, "low-skill training" would be a high school diploma and/or on-the-job training; "middle-skill training" would be something beyond high school (e.g. technical degree, Associate's degree, certification, etc.); "high-skill training" would be a Bachelor's Degree or higher. Student debt is another factor that should cause us to pause in our habitual advocacy for a four-year college. As you have hopefully read at the bottom of each of my wonderings, I love my job and I would not be able to do my job without my bachelor's degree, but I'm still paying for it and I received twelve years ago (to the day, coincidentally). My student debt remains at $14,875.07 (thankfully, my wife's is only $8,457.93!). According to some estimates, student tuition has increased 213% and 129% (for public four-year institutions and private nonprofit four-year institutions respectively) in the last 30 years. I think our traditional default recommendation to our students has been a four-year institution. Due to the fact that 46% of students finish, 56% of jobs don't require it, and student debt may not be worth it, I think we want to start making new traditions and deter from a "one-size fits all" recommendation of a four-year institution. I love being your student's school counselor. If there is something you would like me to know to do it better, please hit "reply." Grant W. Willits 5-8 School Counselor (712)722-3783 (x2120)