🐴 Is college the only path to success?

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💡 DEEP DIVE

DEAD-END OR DO-OVER?

Remember when the path to a "good job" felt like a straight line? High school, then college, then career. Simple. But the map is being redrawn.

This week, we saw a convergence of ideas challenging that old linear model, urging us to embrace a more dynamic, personalized, and, frankly, more interesting approach to what comes after high school.

The whispers are growing louder: is a four-year degree always the golden ticket? Only 58% of high schoolers believing a good job requires one. Some teens are prioritizing on-the-job training and certifications. And who can blame them when we see headlines like The Wall Street Journal's "High Schoolers Landing $70,000 Jobs"? Companies facing skilled labor shortages are increasingly looking to diligent, hardworking high schoolers to fill well-paying roles.

This new landscape calls for a new mindset. As Rose Ybaben—founder of Soaring2College and career planning expert for teens—beautifully put it in our recent podcast, we need to start celebrating the dead ends.

The end of the linear path often means meandering your way to a fulfilling career. In this framework, learning what you don't want to do feels less like failure and more like data collection. Each "no" refines the search, steering young people (and, let's be honest, many adults too!) towards paths that genuinely fit. Education isn't about following a predetermined path—it's about discovering your own.

When OpenEd’s VP of Learning Andrea Fife says, “Adulthood is just one do-over after another,” she means that as a positive; something for teens to look forward to.

We need to be reminded that detours aren't failures but opportunities for clarity. The most fulfilling careers often emerge from the courage to explore unconventional routes.

This is just as true for the teen who opts for college: just because you pick a certain school or decide on a major doesn’t mean you can’t change course.

So how do we prepare younger children for this more dynamic, exploratory world? The answer might be counterintuitive: step back and do less.

Abigail Weidmer, a homeschool mom from Montana, discovered this truth after a year of overwhelming herself trying to teach her kindergartener everything from emotional health to financial literacy. When she found her daughter spontaneously creating museums and teaching her younger brother about ocean zones during free play, Weidmer realized:

"My kids actually learned more when I did less."

This insight led her to embrace Let Grow's "Free Play Friday" concept—a weekly gathering where neighborhood kids play without adult interference. The results? Her clingy kindergarten son began engaging socially. Her daughter launched her own after-school art class. The kids resolved their own disputes and developed creative solutions to challenges.

How does this connect to career exploration?

When we step back and allow for self-directed discovery—whether it's a 7-year-old designing rockets or a 17-year-old trying different internships—we provide the space for learning and purpose to emerge.

The challenge, then, is to equip ourselves and our children with the tools and mindset to navigate this more complex, but ultimately more rewarding, terrain. It means celebrating the dead ends along with the wins, recognizing that learning happens everywhere, and being open to the idea that "success" takes many forms.

What This Means for Your Weekend

• Discuss a "Dead End": Share a story with your teen about a time you pursued something that didn't work out. What did you learn from that "dead end"? How did it redirect you?

• Explore Career Tools: Pick one of the career assessment tools from our list this week (like CareerOneStop or O*NET) and explore it together. No pressure, just curiosity.

• Research Local Opportunities: Look up one local skilled trade program, apprenticeship, or community college certificate program. What surprising options are available nearby?

🤔 DEEP THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK

The 2x2 Screen-Time Matrix Every Parent Needs: Jeremy Kauffman's simple framework helps categorize screen time into engaged/passive and educational/non-educational, guiding parents toward more beneficial digital activities for kids.

Why So Many Kids Hate Math (it's not because they’re bad at it): Ana Lorena Fabrega, Chief Evangelist for Synthesis, points out why memorization of math formulas turns so many kids off to a subject they’d love if it were framed as reasoning, logic, and problem solving.

🔨 THIS WEEK'S 10 MOST-CLICKED TOOLS

1. Synthesis Tutor – A visual, concept-first digital math tutor using interactive puzzles for deep understanding.

2. Prodigy Math – A game-based RPG platform for K-8 math, aligned with curriculum standards, with adaptive difficulty.

3. MathCelebrity – Explains math problems step-by-step like a tutor would, covering algebra to calculus and everything in between.

4. Soaring2College – Rose Ybaben's service helps families create personalized post-high school plans that don't default to expensive four-year degrees, starting with ninth graders.

5. CareerOneStop Self-Assessments – U.S. Department of Labor tools that match interests to potential careers in under 30 minutes.

6. O*NET Interest Profiler – Shows which careers fit an individual's interests along with the required education levels.

7. Let Grow's Free Play Friday Program – Provides a framework and guidelines for establishing unstructured play time.

8. Newsela – Adapts real-world news articles to different reading levels, suitable for various ages.

9. The $0 “Startup Accelerator” Hiding in Your Library – Library cards can unlock access to pro-level market-research databases, SCORE mentors, and free legal consults.

10. QUEN Note-Taking Method – Hillsdale's Classical Classroom method (Question, Evidence, Narration) to encourage active engagement in history learning.

📊 THIS WEEK'S TOP 5 TRENDS

HIGH SCHOOLERS LANDING $70,000 JOBS (The Wall Street Journal) – Companies are increasingly recruiting high school juniors for skilled trade positions due to labor shortages and shifting views on college ROI.

Standardized Tests Strike Back (The Daily Signal / The College Fix) – Several elite universities are reinstating SAT/ACT requirements, citing new research that test scores can predict college success better than GPA alone.

THE COLLEGE GRAD REVERSAL (Plain English with Derek Thompson) – Recent college graduates are facing a surprisingly tough job market, with a 5.8% unemployment rate, highlighting a potential mismatch between degrees and available roles.

THE UNSTRUCTURED PLAY MOVEMENT (Let Grow Foundation) – More schools and communities are embracing "Free Play Fridays," recognizing that unstructured play improves social skills, conflict resolution, and even academic focus.

THE FORGOTTEN SCIENCE OF LIGHT (@BrianRoemmele) – Brian Roemmele shares decades-old research on the harmful effects of fluorescent lighting on focus and learning, while full-spectrum lighting can reduce hyperactivity and increase test scores by up to 35%.

That’s all for this week!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

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