Careers!

The fantastic Drew Appleby (psych professor emeritus from Indiana University, and friend to high school psych teachers everywhere) wrote this excellent article about his response to recent "shots" some politicians took at psychology as a major and career path.

"A Call to Arms or a Call to Action: Responding to Governor Rick Scott's Challenge to Psychology"

Besides being a well written and clever article (e.g. "the Sunshine State has launched its second gubernatorial torpedo at psychology in less than four months." - ha!) the article is a great example of a scholar reflecting on an "attack" in a thoughtful way, and turning the situation into a productive educational opportunity. That's what we want to model for students, right?

The article links to two other useful resources:

• "How to Maximize the Blessings and Minimize the Curses of Being a Psychology Major"
• "Psychology Careers by the Hundreds"

I think high school psych teachers could use these resources to turn what is usually a lecture/presentation about psychology careers into a participatory project: high school students could answer the question like "Is it a good idea to major in psychology in college if I want a job eventually?" using this and other research, and convince themselves of an answer instead of being told an answer by the text or a teacher.

(thanks Drew!)



posted by Rob McEntarffer