Youth Quote Search

• Challenges and Barriers
• Lack of skills and competition

“When I moved here, the first year I had to do one year in high school to get all of my credits from the Dominican Republic. The teacher for English said you shouldn’t take the English regent. I needed to get that one. She said you shouldn’t take it because everybody that comes from another country, especially the Dominican Republic, the first time they never pass it. I said listen, just put me in the regent and I will see what happens. If I don’t pass it, I will take it next time. I passed it. After that I don’t let anybody tell me what I cannot do. Also, I [worked] at [retail store] as assistant manager. Because of that I saw a little bit of money, like $600 after taxes every week. I thought that was like oh and I stopped going to school as often. Then I had to pay because I failed [the classes] and then that was my barrier because I said how can a manager at [retail store] work here and I am studying that in college and you [don’t] need a college degree. Why would I be here? That is when I said I am not going to work here and I went to college. When I graduated there was another one because last year I spent $12K [to learn] about real estate. I feel [I got] a lot more from that than the actual school system, which is crazy – in one year. I don’t know. School is good for discipline, but you are not really going to learn anything in my opinion.”

• Comparing and contrasting 'job' 'work' and 'career'
• Understanding Job/Work/Career

[Comparison of “work” v. “job”] “Job is more like kind of like a requirement, and work is more…personal. You know, like if you want to work at something, like that’s basically like what. [Work is] more of like your own decision…putting in more work will get you more results. A job is more like requirement.”

• Education
• Perceptions of college and postsecondary

“People that weren’t able to find jobs. [Do they feel like they would have been able to find jobs without having gone to college? What do they wish they had done instead of college?] It depends – we live in a world where education has taken a bigger part over talent.”

• Aspirations and Goals
• Imagining their future selves

“Happiness [will be important to me at 45.]”

• Comparing and contrasting 'job' 'work' and 'career'
• Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Negatives about job: wasting your time. Negatives about work: no balance.”

• Challenges and Barriers
• Discrimination and Bias

“My dad, he was up for a promotion, and…it was this guy buddy that he knew, and he was…white, and he had got hired, and my father had more qualifications than he did. He’d been working in the architect since he was in high school, he started in youth and that. The guy just got out of college, and he got the job like that.”

• Aspirations and Goals
• Imagining their future selves

[At 25] “Hopefully living also in California, with a steady income, possibly owning a home with my loved one, if I have one, out of school. I’m working part time…time.”

• Appealing jobs or careers
• Aspirations and Goals

“I guess psychologist just because of the compassion behind it. I have a friend who is seeking to be a clinical psychologist, but other than that not really.”

• Comparing and contrasting 'job' 'work' and 'career'
• Understanding Job/Work/Career

“For job I said like money and like colleagues. And I also did like a summer job because that’s like what I thought of. But for work, I kind of put like, I thought more of like…9:00 to 5:00 job, like a business-casual kind of thing, having a boss, and all of that stuff. But I also like get what she said like work can mean like so many different things, different stages of life. I feel like our parents are always like I want, like I need to like I’m going to work.”

• Challenges and Barriers
• Lack of skills and competition

“I feel you have only one shot.”