Inside the minds of Gen Z: Teens share perspective on college, careers

George Orwell once wrote, “every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”

A prominent theme in conversations about education and the workforce is the next generation, often nicknamed “Gen Z.” What does Gen Z want? What does it need? How does this age group think? What are its priorities?

While there are some adult experts on the topic (plus some members of Gen Z who are already adults and in the workforce), we sought the perspective of today’s high school students.

Our reporters created a brief survey to gauge local high school students’ attitudes toward college and careers. Then we asked our high school principals to share it with their student bodies.

All public school districts in Richland and Ashland counties were invited to participate. The 10-question survey was anonymous and voluntary, with students identifying themselves only by their grade and school.

Between March 20 and May 1, we received 1,140 student responses.

Students from students at Ashland, the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center, Clear Fork, Hillsdale, Loudonville, Lucas, Madison, Mansfield Senior, Mapleton and Ontario all shared their opinions.

We also heard from a few students at the Knox County Career Center, Pioneer Career and Technology Center and Foundation Academy. One homeschooled student even responded to the survey.

So, what did we find out?

We’ll be taking a deeper dive into this survey data in the coming months, but here are some of the big takeaways:

• Most students have at least some idea of what they want to do after high school. More than half (56 percent) of students said they have some idea; 33 percent of students said they know exactly what they want to do.
• Almost sixty percent of survey respondents reported they plan to go to college. The percentage of students who said they plan to enroll increased with each grade level, ranging from 57 percent for freshman to 66 percent for seniors.
• When it comes to setting career goals, many students are doing their homework. We asked how influential 11 distinct factors were on students’ career goals. The top three in order were their own research, their family and social media.
• Work/life balance is a real priority for Gen Z. We asked students to rank the how important things like salary, relationships with coworkers and work-from-home options were to them. Work/life balance came out on top — but some of our other findings may surprise you.

How to access the full survey results (and some important context)

We’ll be exploring the full results of survey in future installments of Tomorrow’s Talent, our ongoing series about college and workforce development.

But if you’re wanting to crunch the numbers yourself, you can find the full survey results here.

Before you dive in, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Ashland County students made up 54 percent of responses; Richland County students made up the remaining 46 percent.
• We received the most responses (532) from Ashland High School.
• We received more responses from younger students than older students. Overall, we heard from 356 freshman, 355 sophomores, 292 juniors and 136 seniors. One student did not identify their grade level.

To read the rest of our Tomorrow’s Talent series, click here. We’ll be releasing additional content throughout the summer.