My Island View

Most research widely supports the direct correlation between parental involvement in their child’s academic life and their child’s overall success. Many studies illuminate the positive impact of parents’ engagement at the elementary levels of school, and unfortunately indicate that as the student moves to the secondary level, parent involvement seems to wane.

Of course, there are many understandable reasons for this happening. Kids become more independent and parents support that as a sign of maturity. Coursework becomes more complicated and some parents are less comfortable dealing with that content. My experience as a middle school teacher has noted that many, if not most kids, don’t want their parents involved in their school life as they get older. Students take ownership of who they are in school and don’t necessarily share that persona with their parents. Sometimes students become a person who their parents don’t necessarily see at home. I was most sensitive to this dynamic since I taught in the district that my daughters attended at the middle school level. This made both my professional and private lives an interesting experience and gave me greater insight into parents from an educator’s perspective.

As my daughters grew older we tried to give them more independence in their decision making. The big decision however came before they graduated high school. What should be the next steps? Both daughters went on to complete college. One had a goal for an industry to enter, and even a specific job she wanted. The other had a general idea of her skills, but not a particular career path for that skill set. As parents, we were limited in our knowledge about career paths that would meet their interests and skill sets in today’s world. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of jobs that didn’t even exist when we were entering the job market. Despite our best intentions, the ability to help our children explore the range of career options was severely limited.

Bob Dylan once coined the phrase “The Times They Are A-Changin “, and they are indeed changing! Fast forward to 2025, when students can virtually experience many career opportunities thanks to the advancement of technology. Virtual Reality (VR) has enabled a few developers to create real-life experiences for dozens of different occupations that students can explore. Some of these applications are better than others. As new jobs evolve or are created the VR experience can adapt and expand with new entries to remain relevant. 

One developer (CareerViewXR.com) even offers a grant to school leaders willing to partner with industry leaders to produce a career exploration experience featuring jobs available locally. This is an innovative and pretty cool idea when one considers that this might increase the odds that students would end up working and building a life in the community in which they were raised. This is something many parents might find quite appealing.

Interestingly, the one decision kids often willingly share with their parents is how, or what they want to spend their lives doing. Many parents however find themselves at a loss as to what careers or jobs exist, let alone what each involves to counsel their kids. Career counseling in many schools is limited if it exists at all. Thus, technology partners are an essential resource to these counselors and parents, especially in providing real-world experiences that have been otherwise inaccessible. VR technology enables students to take a virtual field trip to see and learn about careers in Health, Manufacturing, Technology, Public Service, and much more.

However, the VR experience, even with a proper VR headset/goggles, is not the “holodeck” you might imagine from the Star Trek series that any Trekie or Treker could quickly explain. It is still the easiest way to immerse students in the work environment, where they can literally “job shadow” without leaving the classroom. The benefits are numerous and afford any school to offer its students a variety of career exploration choices, which should be a valued asset and essential component to any student’s school experience.

This is a great example of the positive influence that technology is having on making education more relevant to the real world and the workforce our students will be entering once they graduate. It is also a great way to re-engage parents of middle and high school students, bring them back onto the secondary campus to learn from their children, and have informed discussions about potential career choices. It is so encouraging to see the direction this technology is taking, and the value that it brings with the ability to change as rapidly as needed to accommodate the ever-evolving world of careers. 

Our education goal should always be to create the ability for our students to thrive in the future in which they will live, that would be their future and not our past.