If she still wanted to pursue it when older of course then it would be a true committed passion pursued for the right reasons and I would support it (rather than pursued for the glitz portrayed by tv shows) 
As someone who has no qualms asking for money from alumni and their parents, it is true that the cost to educate at many schools is much higher than the full pay. People are surprised by this. Some won’t believe it. But education is really expensive and there are just so many costs that can’t be recouped via tuition.
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This made me remember an artist I knew of who made a living painting scenic murals on walls inside (usually high end) homes. Don’t know the income they made, but it was enough to live comfortably in a high COL area (though not the same neighborhoods as the homes they painted in, lol). They had built a clientele via word of mouth and reputation, and had steady work.
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Agree with your premise that most of us are stronger in one area than another. And that should lead them in a direction.
I also think many late teens are still developing and haven’t been exposed to many things which will really interest them esp academically. I never had exposure until I was 20 to the subject I majored in and eventually got a masters in as well. My kids have benefitted from excellent schools but they haven’t touched so many subject. Just not enough time in the day.
One of mine is equally good in every subject. Had a real hard time choosing a college. This is not that uncommon. Many of the top kids (5%) were also good in multiple areas.
I think interests and talents do eventually lead to a career path. For us, it’s really important not to sway our kids but at the same time keep them engaged and interested.
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Thanks, I just read a summary here: All work and low pay: are we too devoted to our jobs? | Society books | The Guardian
The title seems sexy, but I am a little confused. As I understood the summary, her argument is not really about why we should or shouldn’t do work that we enjoy/love. Instead it seems to be why some professions are so underpaid and that employees in some low-paid professions have been hoodwinked. They are being exploited in part because they have been convinced that loving their jobs and being devoted to work is more important than being compensated well, treated fairly or having a work/life balance. That we should not accept the idea that it is OK to be poorly paid or work crazy hours in exchange for doing a labor of love. Your employers and the workplace won’t love you back.
I don’t entirely disagree despite enjoying my not particularly lucrative job very much. But at least based on the summary that I read, the author doesn’t seem to be saying that no one should work in fields like nursing, teaching, arts, and academia because those careers are not lucrative or that people should only seek out highly paid careers. Instead, she seems to be making an argument about inequities in pay and suggesting that poorly paid workers should be valued/paid more. To put it more simply, perhaps, stop showing teachers that you value them with handmade cards and hugs from kindergarteners. Start paying them more. Don’t just clap for essential workers in the middle of a pandemic; instead make sure their wages, benefits, perks, and vacation time (or whatever) are similar to more prestigious jobs.
In any case, I haven’t read the book but I just reserved it at the library. I still don’t think there is anything at all wrong with prioritizing work that you actively enjoy over wealth. Nor do I think there is something suspect about feeling fulfilled in work that helps others/gives back (“do-gooder” stuff as you put it).
I was just thinking to myself at work today that there are responsibilities that I would find so tedious or soul-sucking that it is hard for me to imagine being willing to do certain jobs even if I were paid a ton more than I am. I could do the job temporarily for short stretches, but not 40+ hours per week, day after day, year after year. So I suppose you’d have to pay me a whole lot so I could retire after a couple of years. That would be cool, I admit. I probably wouldn’t turn down one or two years of something that I disliked in exchange for the promise of next 40+ years of financial freedom! Nobody has made such an offer to me though.
Still even if the above is true, I could not work in a job that I thought was exploiting or doing harm to others no matter how highly paid that work was. There are workplace compromises that I wouldn’t make if I had any other options for feeding my family at all.
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Many portrait artists make 20-50K per portrait sometimes much more. Some do portraits for corporations or college admins. $$$ there too.
Thanks. This is very enlightening. The person I mentioned is good to USC. Also pre-law as backup. The school actually encourages a backup.
I have a nephew who just graduated. Theater and business. IMO, good idea. Try what you want and if you need to, you still can get a job in business.
With my kid who is working in the performing arts, that is indeed how it started as a preschooler and through high school…it was mostly an extracurricular endeavor and she was ready to commit to that major in a professional BFA degree program in college. No back up plan. What she once did for fun outside of school became her work.
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Of course, many people do have their own ethical limits on what work they will do. For example, many people may not want to work in something like telemarketing car extended warranties written so that they never pay out.
Also, non-profit organizations vary all over the place in how they treat employees, just like for-profit organizations. Private non-profit universities and private non-profit hospitals may be generally competitive in the market for whatever employees they want to hire, for example (indeed, their for-profit competitors seem to have worse reputations for various business practices).
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So my arts sample is very small and skews successful because it can cost so much to raise a family in Manhattan.
The arts people I know are bold face names and not actors and can make mid 6 figures and 7 figures.
And they start at the “bottom” where nobody is paying them just because they have a BA from a top school.
Some create something completely new for cheap in an off-off-off-Broadway venue and that gets them noticed and picked up (famous example is Mindy Kaling).
Some start as unpaid interns at film festivals and then end up as producers.
All have passion and hustle.
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@nyc10023 Agree that it take passion and hustle…lots of drive. Also create your own work and don’t wait for work to come to you. I also agree that one might start small and have their work noticed and it leads to more work and more exposure and can mushroom if you are quite good. Another thing…my kid has often sat on the casting side of the field (that is not her profession, but she has a very significant say in this in many of her projects), and if someone is not enjoyable to work with, they won’t be considered no matter how talented. That aspect is a factor many times…are you a good collaborator and pleasant to work with.
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How does one pursue pre-law as a backup? Law school admission doesn’t require any specific set of courses or specific major. Is “pre-law” in name only, such as meaning you may apply to law school later, but don’t plan to do anything related to law school admission before that point?
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Hah, yes, sorta. Some very famous people are difficult to work with but you put up with it.
I understand. The person considers herself to be prelaw, and is considering Econ or something similar. The university apparently wants you to pickup a second hopefully more reliable major which will act as a backup if music doesn’t work out.
@nyc10023 I had heard of Mindy Kaling, but honestly wasn’t sure what she does and so I looked her up. And one thing about her is what I see as contributing to my own kid’s success and several of her friends (even true about her own husband) and that is that Mindy has several skill sets and does more than one thing…she is an actor, comedian, director, writer, producer. I think one reason my kid has always had work and never has had to do non-arts “survival jobs,” is because she has multiple ongoing careers in different facets of the arts. She is not unique this way, but I see some peers who only audition for work and if currently not cast, are doing unrelated survival jobs. She never has had to work outside her field. She wears many hats, though only studied one of these in college, but people began paying her for her other talents. So, I’m often telling those who pursue performing arts, that the more varied your skill set, the better. I think of my daughter as having 3 simultaneous careers. Her husband, also in the performing arts, wears more than one hat/role in the field too.
No doubt, true (and in other fields too). But my kid works with many famous people…yet when she is on the team that is hiring them, she will not offer roles to those who are difficult people, even if they are good on stage. Her field in NYC can be “small,” and reputation in this way gets around.
On a brighter note, my D has worked with and met many very famous people, who are supportive and nurturing and even choose to mentor her. I think that beyond talent, it helps to be someone others want to be around, work with, gives back, and collaborates well.
Well, Mindy (Dartmouth grad child of immigrants) and her friend were surviving in nyc as temps, babysitters, etc when they co-created a show starring just the 2 of them. They had to rent the space and it was only a few nights, but someone who was hiring writers for the American Office TV show hired Mindy based on that alone.
This isn’t the only story I know. Others have done the same.
These aren’t people who only perform - they are content creators like your daughter.
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Totally agree with you there, but I think it’s super unlikely that our society will adequately pay those who pursue “passion careers” like the arts, teaching, or arguably nursing. In the meantime, I will be advising my own kid to avoid those “passion jobs” since it is unwise to bank on more political or economic equality for the future.
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Why would you discourage pursuing the fields you just mentioned even if such jobs may be underpaid? What a society we’d have if people did not do these jobs and even more so, if very smart people did not do these jobs! For example, we need smart educators and smart nurses! And what would life be like without the arts that many enjoy and add to our culture?
Further, not all jobs in these fields are low paying. Some in the arts make very nice salaries for example.
And why are the fields you point out called “passion careers” when I would hope that any career someone enters and has studied to go into is one that is of great interest to them. The fields you mention cannot be the only ones people feel a true passion for, I’d hope.
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