We are currently finalising a 'Future Planning' unit for social studies, concluding the topic by researching key concepts, as well as reflecting on our learning. We are preparing for our year eleven options and looking at career possibilities for the future is becoming the focus of our learning in many classes. The following are the key concepts we have been researching:
CAREER
A career is a professional path or occupation which is undertaken for an extended period of your lifetime and from which one can derive financial benefit. A career can also be defined as a long-term financial profession determined by your goals, ambitions and interests. For example: if Amanda loved to help people and chose to pursue a job in the medical field, and then became a doctor, this would be her career. If Amanda loved helping people but did not derive a profit from her actions, then that could be defined as a hobby. Your career is not your end goal, it is the journey it takes to get there.
ENTERPRISE
An enterprise is generally an original idea that has been developed into a small business. It is a project or undertaking which is designed to provide financial benefit and potentially grow into a larger business. Often, enterprise can have a high risk factor, meaning that it is created with the high possibility that it will not succeed, or not provide much profit. For example: Karen buys one bunch of six bananas for $3, and sells each banana for $1.50. She sells all six, subsidising the three dollars she paid for the bananas originally, and making $6 profit. Now she can buy two bunches of six bananas for $6, sell them at a price of $1.50 each, subsidise the six dollars, and make 12 dollars profit. Now she can buy four bunches of six bananas, sell them for $1.50 each, subsidise the twelve dollars used and make a profit of $24. And so on and so forth. The risk factor here would be the idea that people would not be prepared to pay $1.50 per banana.
ENTREPRENEUR
An entrepreneur is the brains behind the enterprise- they are the ones generating the idea. Generally an entrepreneur develops an original idea into a small business to provide profit, much like the banana selling example above. As mentioned before, these ideas come with a high risk factor- they are built with the knowledge that they could fail. An entrepreneur takes financial risks with their idea in anticipation of a profit. So to summarise, an entrepreneur makes the best of an opportunity or idea, aware of the financial risks, in the hope of making a profit and capitalising the idea.
WALT DISNEY
As we have previously determined, an entrepreneurial person is someone who develops a high risk idea into a business to create profit. Based on the idea that enterprise is a high risk idea developed into a profit organisation, we can identify the moments in Walt Disney’s career that define him as an entrepreneur. When he was 18 years old he pursued a career in newspaper artistry- he then began experimenting with cameras, creating his very first animations. He then opened his own business and flourished from there. What I haven’t mentioned is that he suffered a substantial amount of hardship in his career, hence showing us the high risk element of starting his own company. He became bankrupt numerous times before he came to be known as the Founder of Disneyland. I chose Walt Disney as an entrepreneur because his career shows us the extremes of entrepreneurialism, and is an example for all people struggling to find their dreams- passion, determination and hard work can help you reach your goals, regardless of the obstacles you might encounter along the way.
Career, entrepreneur, enterprise- three concepts which correlate into our current future planning unit. These concepts all have something to do with providing financial profit, which is, in essence, a fairly fundamental part of our ‘future.’ How I relate these three concepts to our current topic is the idea that they all revolve around a fairly significant and prominent aspect of our futures- money. Career- the pathway you take in life to make money, enterprise- a high risk idea for a business, and entrepreneur- the people who make these high risk ideas reality. All these concepts tie in with our plans for the future, which is why they relate to ‘Future Planning’ as a topic.
This topic is working towards planning forward into our futures. This is particularly applicable in our current situations as we are choosing our year eleven options, beginning to direct our learning towards the career path we wish to take. Future planning is a unit devoted to educating students about financial choices and giving us an introduction into the real world ideas of money- it is also allowing us to think in depth about our career paths. To compare the two situations- the topic and choosing our year eleven options- the topic teaches us to look into the future, after schooling, at what our career choice will be, requiring us to choose a definite job to base our research on. Our year eleven options teaches you to, yes, to look into the future at your career, but also to keep your options open, literally and figuratively. The similarities are that both look into your career, and ‘planning’ for the future.
This topic revolved around identifying a career choice for the future- choosing a definite job profile to do our research on. This topic was challenging for me because it required forward thinking and research, identifying and accounting for different variables before coming to a definite answer. I had trouble deciding on a career to investigate because I didn’t want to feel constrained by that choice, even though it was just for a research project. This topic also allowed us to investigate the realistic financial requirements to exist comfortably in our society today, challenging our perspective on money and the idea that it does not just grow on trees.
Change is the result of action, action is the result of… well a whole host of different factors. This topic has helped me break a mental barrier I previously had- the idea that determining your career choice now, confines you for the future. This is not true, and it is only through this project that I have come to terms with that fact. Through this research investigation I have learnt that never wanting to give something a go for fear that it will restrict you, means you will never try anything. Pretty impressive discovery. So how does this research project become an action plan for change? Well it gives people a realistic idea of the financial requirements needed to live, it gives people an insight into their career interests, it allows people to devise their own action plan for life. This research project gives students the ability to feel more independent about their career choice, this is the action plan for change. Allowing students to be more independent, and gain an idea of their career paths before making career altering decisions, makes students more prepared for change after they leave school. The action plan for change, is preparation.
This topic has reviewed a multitude of different concepts regarding our future- finance, career paths, business. This unit has allowed us to address our plans for the future, looking into our career paths and the realistic requirements for living in our current society. As previously discussed this is particularly relevant as we approach year eleven, when the time for choosing our options looms near. This topic resulted in several mental breakthroughs for me personally, and all in all this topic has been thoroughly mind broadening. I would conclude by saying that this unit has educated me in the realistic requirements needed for existing in today’s society. Comfortably.
