“To career” means “to move at a fast, reckless, or uncontrolled speed, similar to the original meaning of a horse’s gallop.” That’s about right. It should be clear by now that for many (if not most) people, the idea of a single, lifelong career is a relic of the past—something you’d expect to learn about on a tasteful Ken Burns PBS miniseries filled with black-and-white photographs of men in bowler hats. The question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” assumes that life can be neatly preordained. The audacity. So let’s bury that idea with a stake through its heart and move on, shall we?

Today’s young people will change careers, sometimes radically, multiple times, and will flourish because of that volatility. They were made for it. A humane and effective education system, therefore, must do the following three things:

A major 2024 study by researchers in Europe and Australia emphasizes that modern career trajectories are increasingly nonlinear, with widespread patterns that include multiple transitions, job/occupation changes, and midcareer moves. 

Young people are less willing to be pigeonholed as any one thing, understanding that versatility makes them not only more competitive in the working world but happier. Some shift out of necessity; industries evolve, companies collapse, technologies “obsolete” entire professions. But many are doing it by choice.

The trouble is, they’re figuring all this out on their own. Our educational systems are still built for the previous era. We imagine that we’re prepping students for a single professional identity.

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