YOUR BEHAVIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL PREDICTS YOUR FUTURE

(February, 2018) Your behavior in high school predicts both your future income and your career success, according to a study from the University of Tübingen in Germany, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study found that students who showed a greater interest in school and were more responsible students ended up in more prestigious careers and thus made more money, both 11 and 50 years after graduation. This was true regardless of their IQ, parents’ income or personality traits. The study analyzed data from 346,660 U.S. high school students in 1960, along with follow-up data from 81,912 of those students 11 years later and 1,952 of them 50 years later. Interest in school and responsibility were measured by asking students if they paid attention in class, kept up with assignments, did more than the minimum on assignments, and more.
* Well, I’m boned.
* Er, did they say if you have to actually graduate? Just curious.
* Life really is like high school. I still have to wake up at 5 a.m. for this job.
* All these years later, I’m still sneaking out back behind the building for a smoke.
* Oops – those high school kids they studied in 1960? All those great-paying jobs they got have since gone to China.