High School Students’ Academic Achievements Indicate Which Job Markets They Will Pursue

High school students with good academic performance are attracted to job markets that are suitable to their achievements. A new report found that high school students who have high test scores and attended higher-level classes were more inclined to take up jobs in workforces where there are plenty of college-educated people.

The report, which was provided by the American Sociological Association, analyzed data from 14,825 sophomores in more than 1,000 high schools in the United States. They were first surveyed in 1980 and were surveyed again for four times in 2014, a period when they reached 50 years of age.

According to the researchers, high school students who took advanced math classes, had high test scores, and achieved higher GPAs were more likely to work in job markets alongside college-educated individuals. The same can be said for people with a college degree.

With these findings, the researchers believe that areas with more college-educated people in the workforce would thrive more. This is because there are higher chances of advancement and economic growth in these places, which can then attract large numbers of people with high educational achievements.

In the United Kingdom, one third of students are prioritizing their education more over social activities such as clubbing, partying, and drinking with their friends. Young people are spending more than 200 hours on tasks that would increase their chances of getting hired, and they do this even before they enter college, The National Student reported.

This change is due to the mounting pressure of job hunting. Students feel pressured to stand out from other applicants when they apply for jobs, and they believe they can achieve this if they are armed with additional credentials and achievements from school.

Students in the U.K. are taking math, computer science, and economic A-levels when they want to gain an edge in the job market, the Financial Times reported. The country's government is pleased with this development because it lays out potential economic improvements in the nation's future.

A Brookings Institution blog post, meanwhile, claimed that taking advanced high school courses isn't a definite way to set up students' success in college. Researchers Gregory Ferenstein and Brad Hershbein said high schools should emphasize developing students' critical thinking skills instead of forcing them to learn specific content.

The research argued that students would forget specific details of a lesson, but they might remember its broader concepts. Those "underlying skills" would help them have more success in college and in the workforce.