Achievement’ American Teens Want To Get Down To Business (NAPSA)—When it comes to career choices, teens mean busi- ness. They also think being a doctor or lawyer would be justfine. And many would like to be their own boss. These are just some of the key findings of a survey of the attitudes of American teens toward business and careers. The survey is part of an ongoing project spon- sored by the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. For the third consecutive year, teens selected a career in business as their ideal job, according to the latest JA Worldwide ( Achievement) “Interprise Poll™.” “Business” occupations received just under 10 percent of the responses, “doctor” and “teacher” each received just over six percent, and “entertainer” received About 10 percent of female students—five times as many as male students—indicate they think being a doctor would beideal. 5.7 percent. Many teens had a chance to learn more about potential careers during National Job Shadow Day, an annual nationwide initiative that furthers student career exploration by pairing young people with on-the-job “hosts” at their workplace. The event is sponsored by ING, Nelnet, Valpak, and the National Job Shadow Coalition. The coalition includes America’s percentto 3.1 percent). the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Education and Achievement. Students from 80 JA locations across the country participated in the “2005 JA Interprise Poll on Kids and Careers.” For a complete summary of the results, visit www.ja.org. JA reaches 4 million students in the U.S. and another 2 million students in nearly 100 countries. Nearly five times as many female students (just under 10 percent) indicated that becoming some type of “doctor”is their ideal career, compared to only 1.9 percent of males who provided that preference. By somewhat smaller butstill impressive margins, female students expressed a greater interest than their male counterparts in becoming a “teacher” (7.2 percent to 4.1 percent ) and “lawyer” (5.3 Owning their own business appeals to more than two-thirds of students. Male students appear more inclined to be entrepreneurs (nearly 75 percent) than their female classmates (62.9 percent). Promise—The Alliance for Youth, For more information, visit www.ja.org or write JA Worldwide Headquarters, One Education Way, Colorado Springs, CO 80906. You can also contact the nearest JA office.
