<p>There are kids of a truly intellectual bent from an early age, though I suspect that their interest is stoked by well-educated parents. Others discover a passion, likely after high school, as most high school classes/subjects are hard to be passionate about; however, there are HS teachers who do generate passion because of their own excellent, passionate teaching. ShawSon, who was of the early intellectual bent category, had a HS teacher in constitutional law and then for international relations who was so inspiring that she probably shifted his interest from science to social science. He just had an inspiring teacher in college who has sparked his interest in behavioral economics. But without the sparking in high school, many kids would not appear intellectually curious through their four years of high school. I don’t think it stops there. I spent a year in graduate school at Stanford and became friends with a bunch of undergraduates there (ate in an eating club, played intramural sports and practiced with one of the varsity teams, …). Very few students at Stanford in those days struck me as particularly intellectual. They were pre-professional in orientation (e.g., What do I need to do to get into a good law school, etc.?) They generally seemed reasonably smart, just not intellectual. So, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. </p>
<p>Plus, as someone said, once you dip out of the anointed liberal arts curriculum, there are majors in everything under the sun, including many things for which it is surprising that there is a college degree. ShawD, who has a high IQ but hasn’t shown signs of being intellectual for the most part, knows a girl who is going to college to study dairy management – she’s interested in working with dairy cows. OK. But, there are lots of majors other than English, Physics, and French literature.</p>
<p>I am not a parent, but I am a Junior at Columbia College Chicago. It is an amazing school! Columbia College Chicago is an Interactive Arts & Media College. The school prides itself on being anything but traditional. All of the professors are industry professionals who just happen to teach on the side, so you meet great people in your field (great for networking). Also the school has an amazing internship program and frequently hosts meet-and-greets with leading industry professionals. </p>
<p>I was a very mediocre student all through high school because it just wasn’t a good learning environment for me. </p>
<p>I came to Columbia College Chicago and my life was a complete turn around. I am a marketing student and I can say with complete confidence I have accomplished more than some marketing students at Ivy League Colleges. The school knows that your high school GPA doesn’t reflect one’s work ethic or intelligence, the student just wasn’t shown how to use their specific tools properly. </p>
<p>Go to their website, [Columbia</a> College Chicago : Home](<a href=“http://www.colum.edu%5DColumbia”>http://www.colum.edu).
or go to an Open House if the website isn’t enough to persuade you!</p>
<p>This thought I seriously don’t get. Nothing the OP has said has suggested at all that the son would not be someone who would get something out of college.</p>
Well, if you’re going to be there to be playing with your skateboard instead of studying, then what are you doing there? I’m not saying that only people that are going to be glued to a book should be in college, but you should have an inclination to desire to further your studies and not just because everyone is going to college today.</p>
<p>Learn. The OP didn’t say (at least in her OP) that he was unwilling to study at all, only that he wasn’t intellectual. That you cannot see the difference (assuming she did not contradict that statement later) is frightening.</p>
<p>The point is, the son can go to university in order to prepare for a career in business, the music industry (as the OP stated), finance, politics, etc. Note that intellectualism is a requirement for not a single one of those.</p>
<p>I think this thread more than any other shows the problem with the CC mentality, and that is saying something.</p>
<p>“OP’s son can also go to a vocational school, which at its best caters to people able to learn, but have no motivation to think.”</p>
<p>I’m in “vocational school” (as per a lot of the parents’ definitions here) and I still have to think. Or maybe I’m just really dumb and am really just banging my head against walls, making weird noises, holding one leg in front of me with both arms, and calling it thinking. Only liberal arts majors will be able to tell me. </p>
<p>“That really sucks that this kids parents don’t seem to have faith in his intelligence…”</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s what is going on here, but even so, only half of kids are above average intelligence-wise. Only 1/4 are in the top 75%, and only 1/10 is in the top 10%. A lot of people aren’t in those categories. Some parents are realists. They still want what’s (or what they perceive is) best for their kid.</p>
<p>I was not trying to be nice. Or mean. Nor do I denigrate vocational schools. However, I do think it silly to pay high University costs to get vocational training.</p>
<p>I’m going to be paying like 17K next year for vocational school tuition (instate vocational school). Really expensive. Though apparently another vocational school nearby (10 minute bus ride + 3 minute walk) places 18.5% of it’s students into a set of jobs with ~117K/year median 1st year compensation, so even expensive vocational school can’t be all that bad of an investment.</p>
<p>Vocations do not have to be easy, or by definition be accessible to any threshold intelligence. Pilots come to mind. Or certain jobs in the military. Some of my colleagues might include surgeons, and many a philosopher might include medicine as an occupation.</p>
<p>Intellectualism is not the same thing as intelligence.</p>
<p>In a fashion, qwertykey, you are advancing my argument. You consider $17k a high tuition for you vocational school, while $17k cheap for private universities. I’ll also take a guess that your vocational school is a good sight better at the field you are training in, than had you gone to Uni for it (assuming it exists.)</p>
<p>Ergo, go to vocational school and not Uni for vocational training. Thinking tends to be a hobby, while learning is a goal directed activity – often related to money.</p>
<p>^I was just being a jackass. I’m in an Engineering school at a University, which has been called by more than a few here “vocational school.” The 117K/1st year was for people who go into Investment Banking from the business school within this University, which has also been called by more than a few “vocational school.”</p>
<p>It is an oxymoron. Don’t send the kid to college. It is a waste of your money and your kid’s time, and it lowers the bar for other people who really want to be there. I hate how college is just that thing that everybody does after high school.</p>