An Integral Analysis of Bahamian Adolescents and Their Perspectives About a Future After High School

Abstract

Adolescents in high school are faced with many opportunities and challenges, which may direct their future path towards higher education and career development. The future orientation among Bahamian adolescents was looked at from an integral lens. The beliefs and goals Bahamian adolescents had for their future were explored and included present actions and plans students proposed to realize these goals. Further, the expectations adolescents perceived others had for them and the perceptions they held for themselves, including outside influences and systems that impact adolescents' implementation and realization of their goals were identified. The use of Wilber's integral methodological pluralism, supported by mixed methods research, gathered phenomenological, hermeneutical, and empirical data from members of the school and the community involved in a private high school in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Studies on future orientation with adolescents in other countries provided a comparison for and offered additional insight into the phenomenon of college and career readiness.