For years, members of the National Society of High School Scholars, an honor organization for kids who excel academically, have been asked what they would want to do for a living.
Tech companies would typically dominate the top ranks in the study, but the rankings for this year, which are based on feedback from over 10,000 Gen Zers, show a deeply mutating landscape. One example being Google, formerly No. 1 in 2017, dropping to No. 7 – or Amazon, formerly No. 4, to No. 8.
The computer industry has had a virtual monopoly on the brightest young people in the nation for more than ten years. The belief among millennials was that they were going to Silicon Valley to serve a grand purpose for the benefit of humanity. Instead, nowadays internet corporations are increasingly blamed for the dissemination of false information, the encouragement of hate speech, the fostering of digital addiction, and the escalation of the teen mental health crisis – not to mention that large digital companies are laying off a substantial portion of their staff.
It seems like healthcare is poised to overtake Silicon Valley as the next big thing. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was ranked first in this year’s rankings. Mayo Clinic came in second. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came in at number 14, despite not even making the top 100 lists in 2018. For experts, Gen Z’s renewed interest in health care could be driven by high wages and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, which dramatically exposed the failings of health care systems around the world.
With a work stability likely to appeal college students, the federal government is a strong contender to replace Big Tech as well. The FBI, NASA, CIA, and CDC all placed in the top 20 of the high school survey.
Overall, however, it appears that young people’s biggest goal is to be able to work for themselves rather than others. Three-quarters of participants in the Handshake poll indicated that they would consider becoming entrepreneurs at some point in their careers.
