<p>I approve of both of my kids majors because they chose them and it’s their choice to make. One is in the arts and one is in the sciences. </p>
<p>Do I worry about employability, especially for the art major? Yes, of course but she tenacious and determined. </p>
<p>I also believe in equal support for them and we pay what we can pay for them based on the fact that we value education for the sake of education.</p>
<p>In my family of origin, I experienced favoritism and disapproval around our career choices. My choice was art. I got no support and was encouraged to pursue secretarial work. My sister became a nurse (a great source of pride for my parents and the recipient of the bulk of financial support).</p>
<p>As it played out, I am the only one in the family who is happily and successfully employed in my field.</p>
<p>I learned a lot from that experience. We don’t have magical abilities to predict the future for our kids and trying to use our financial and emotional leverage to steer them toward what we think is a good choice, is, IMO, unwise and unfair.</p>
<p>I approve of my D loving school and her major. She is a Musical Theater major. A lot of people do that whole, “pause…oh…that’s nice” thing when I tell them, but I just ignore it. She is very bright and a very good people person. She is very mature for her age, poised, articulate, passionate about her major and her views. She is aware it is a tough career, but has many strengths and talents and has many ideas of other types of careers she would be interested in. She is an amazing interviewee who gets most jobs she goes for. Her presence on stage transfers over to her life in general and she will do well with whatever she chooses to do. She has plans to go on for her masters but wants to explore her interests a bit first. I am excited for her because there are so many possibilities. Our first two children are just as happy with their careers and so we we wholeheartedly approve!</p>
<p>*Who am I to “approve” or “disapprove” of her major? Whose life is it, hers or mine? Who will live with the consequences, she or I? Even if I could control my daughter’s future path, I would never try to do so.</p>
<p>She does ask my advice, and I give it. Whether she takes it is up to her.*</p>
<p>I can’t think of anyone offhand who tried to influence their child’s major.</p>
<p>Not even that of my niece who majored in classics at an LAC. ( her mom thought she might go into law) After not much luck getting admitted to grad school, she is now a program administrator on the Kinect project at Microsoft & loves it.</p>
<p>Yes! PMKjr is majoring in Music Industry. It really suits him and his college has a wonderful co-op program that will allow him to make connections in the industry. I’m excited for him!</p>
<p>I can see parents approving of majors that children have actually been investing their time in before they went off to college- i.e. the science major who always enters the optional science fairs, the theatre major who is in every play he can get into, the pre-vet with a dozen pets, the criminal justice major who thrives on CSI and reads books about infamous criminals, the art major who lives with a sketchpad in hand…</p>
<p>But what about students who claim to want to major in something that they have never really investigated? I know students “interested in” history who have never taken a nonfiction history book out of the library, “prospective” political scientists who don’t read the latest political books, newspapers or political blogs, or volunteer for local candidates, those who “like” archaeology, but haven’t read the latest best-sellers in the field… </p>
<p>I know the academic year is filled for most high school students, but did your children investigate their prospective majors in high school and act on them OUTSIDE of coursework in college?</p>
<p>When one of my children voiced interest in both science and political science as college majors, I discounted political science in my mind immediately since all the extracurriculum activities revolved around science while a newspaper was never read, the news never watched, and things like student council held no interest. (I verbally supported both majors, but made sure the colleges applied to were strong in both. My child eventually wound up with a hard science degree and a humanities science & society degree and is currently working in a lab.)</p>
<p>So the simple question is “do you approve of your child’s major?”, and for the purposes of this thread, to approve seems to mean</p>
<p>“Is it something you would choose for your child, or would you rather have your child major in something else? If so, what would that have been?”</p>
<p>Just to be clear, I am not talking about influencing or actually choosing, but would I rather s/he major in something else, and what. </p>
<p>I have a senior and a freshman in college, and my thoughts have changed on this. Four years ago I wished my senior was interested in majoring in something with a well defined path to a job. My senior is bright, but has not demonstrated the kind of internal drive that I felt one needed to end up doing something that she would enjoy over the long haul. Today, I can’t imagine what else she might be doing.</p>
<p>She is an English major, and will have “certificates” in journalism and documentary studies, and has not wavered much in four year. ( She briefly majored in linguistics).</p>
<p>Continued…I did not “approve” of freshman son majoring in television production at $55k a year, primarily because it was a very recent interest, in which he had no history or track record, and I would rather he explore it at a public for $20k. </p>
<p>And I’m sure I went as far as to “influence” that one. So far it’s working out, as he is at the $55 k school exploring that on the side, but majoring in something in which he has more of a track record.</p>
<p>Does anybody else have trouble adding to a post on their IPad?</p>
<p>DS started in Comp Sci and decided to double major in EE - to me that’s a double hit. DD1 had her mind set on medicine - another approval, and DD2 is beginning to get into the college track with a strong interest in Vet - approvals all around for that one too. </p>
<p>Unlike many of the others on this thread, we did have “approved” majors and not; if any of them had wanted to do, for example, “Asian Studies” we would have tried to steer them away, but had they insisted they had a passion for learning about the upbringing of women of Inner Mongolia, I suspect we would have advised them to become well versed with merit scholarships and student loans. </p>
<p>Many (most?) feel it is their privilege and responsibility to guide their children towards their religion, their political views, their almas, their sports preferences, their tampon brands, whatever, and that’s great. I provided little direction in these areas, but did spend many hours a day and many vacation themes to the areas of knowledge and learning that I cared about, and happily what they wanted to do in college matched what we would have liked.</p>
<p>My D initially wanted to be a performing major in voice. Then, in 11th grade, she began volunteering with a program for autistic children. Within weeks, she decided to become a special ed teacher. Her concentration is music and she hopes to use her talents to help LD and autistic kids.</p>
<p>While I am concerned that she won’t make a ton of money, she is eminently suited to this career and it shows. She is a much better student in college than she ever was in HS because she is studying things she enjoys. She also opted for a state school and has earned scholarships and works as an RA. She is halfway through a 5 year program (will exit with a masters) and has no debt as of yet; I anticipate that this will continue. This makes me feel better about her earnings potential. </p>
<p>I am much happier with her teaching than as a performer.</p>
<p>I would think someone with an in-depth understanding of Asian societies and cultures would be very employable in today’s global economy, and would become increasingly so as the century progresses.</p>
<p>Shrinkwrap,
I’m not judging at all because I agree with your concerns about paying for a recently discovered interest but I have to ask, if the new interest had been in a field that you consider to be more employable, would you be more apt to support it?</p>
<p>I would actually be kind of concerned about a child exploring a new interest at a public university if that school could not support the interest at a competitive level in upper-level courses. </p>
<p>I’d probably be less concerned if the child were at a school where they could become rapidly connected with professors with national or international reputations, graduate students, and peers interested in developing their major interest to professional levels.</p>
<p>I don’t mind children embracing new interests at school - after all one of the benefits of going to college is widening one’s experiences, but I would want to see active interest in a major field as a student investigates it both inside and outside the classroom. After all, what is done outside the classroom is what truly shows interest.</p>
<p>Of course, it depends on the content of the major, which (probably more for interdisciplinary majors like Asian Studies) could depend a lot on the student’s course choices. A student who chose a rigorous curriculum including courses on the language(s), culture, economics, politics, literature, etc. of the region or specific countries or diasporas, as well as gaining a well rounded base of communication skills, qualitative / humanistic skills, quantitative / logical skills, understanding of humanities, social studies, and sciences, etc. would likely be a lot more suited for future work than a student who loaded up with low-content “easy A” courses that pre-med and pre-law students tend to seek out.</p>
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<p>Why does it matter if the school is a public school in this case? If the student decides to go in a direction which the school cannot support (not enough course offerings or whatever), then it does not matter whether the school is public or private – the student would likely need to transfer to a school which has a good degree program in his/her major.</p>
<p>ucbalum, I agree completely. And I would generalize your comment to say that in ANY major, the more rigorous your college experience, the better it will serve you throughout life. Unfortunately, many students today are more focused on the credential (and having “the complete college experience”) than on the rigor of the education obtained.</p>
<p>People respond to incentives, usually more so in the short term than the long term. Law schools and medical schools provide the incentive to grade-grub and seek out “easy A” courses by considering GPA with little or no regard for course rigor, and employers may use school name as an initial screen because they cannot afford to travel to every single university’s career center to recruit. And since (realistically) few students would attend university without the hope of a better job and career at the end, incentives relating to jobs and careers have a powerful effect on student behavior.</p>
<p>A better first job out of college may (may) depend on the credential. A better career depends on the ability to assess evidence and think critically - at least in most careers worth having. And that depends on the rigor of the college education, not the credential.</p>
<p>“I’m not judging at all because I agree with your concerns about paying for a recently discovered interest but I have to ask, if the new interest had been in a field that you consider to be more employable, would you be more apt to support it?”</p>
<p>Emotionally? Always. Financially? Not sure. I know it has something to do with whether the financial support “pays off”. If I understood the field, felt he’d thrive, and thought the school made a difference, I’d pay. As it happens, my brother is in “filming” ( that drives bro crazy!), and in addition to privatey hoping son picked something else, he feels the school at this point doesn’t usually matter.</p>
<p>Some majors, especially art/etc, tend to require staggering talent and skill to make it. In software, the delta (difference) between a good coder and a bad coder is significant, but nobody cares. At the end, both get jobs…</p>
<p>In, say, music or photography, there’s a huge cliff separating the good musician that becomes a national hit, or the photographer to shoot for Time or Vogue, and the musician who teaches Music 1 to 4th grade students or the wedding photographer. People don’t realistically assess what is needed. </p>
<p>Case in point; I love photography but knew I could not make it as a pro. A classmate of DD1’s in HS, on the other hand, is incredibly talented, got in the top photography program in the country with $$$, and if he’s not shooting for Vogue in a few years, I’ll eat my DSLR.</p>
<p>The problem is that parents and students need to realistically assess the skills involved and the chance of ‘making it’.</p>
<p>It’s like those of us who took our daughters to gym or ballet class for ever. Out of all these Saturdays, I may recall one young lady (gymnastics) that could cut it at the level required to compete. The difference was THAT obvious. Everyone else, my own kids included, was there having fun, but only that.</p>