<p>What reason do you send your kids to good college? So that they can get a great job or to learn what they want to learn about? Do you want them to major in something that will put then in great companies, or major that they really want to choose to learn more about it? Because, apparently, all asian parents send their kids to good college so that they can be successful in the future, at least that's what my parents do. </p>
<p>You send them to the best college you can so they can get the best education they can. With the best education they can get, we have done our best to equip them as we could.</p>
<p>What they do with the education is their choice. We have given them the best tools we could, opened as many doors as we could, but the rest is up to them. Like the Army says: "Be all that you can be". A good education is one step for most people. </p>
<p>A good education is easiest earned now. When you are older, responsibilities get in the way.</p>
<p>If all you want to be is someone who owns a surfboard shop on a beach in Hawaii, well, at least if you have had some business classes, you will more likely to run a business that can support you.</p>
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Do you want them to major in something that will put then in great companies, or major that they really want to choose to learn more about it?
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<p>My philosophy is: Do something you enjoy for college so you can get good grades. Do something practical in Grad School so you can earn a living.</p>
<p>I went to college and studied what could get me a job. My friends who went to college and studied what they wanted to learn about, rather than what could get them a job, are just as employed as I am.</p>
<p>I hope my son, when he goes to college, will study what he wants to learn about.</p>
<p>H and I were willing to pay for our kids tuition at top colleges (very selective and highly ranked) for several reasons.</p>
<p>-they would presumably be w/ peers of equal or greater intelligence who would stimulate and motivate them.</p>
<p>-the school, because of reputation, would help them get good jobs upon graduation or get into great graduate schools.</p>
<p>-they would be given a top rate education taught by highly respected professors.</p>
<p>-they earned it.</p>
<p>In hindsight, S did not take full advantage of the educational opportunities at his school and we could have saved a lot of money sending him to a local state school. D1 is thriving at her school, taking full advantage of many opportunities and will hopefully get into a top grad school. D2 is just starting her 2nd semester freshman yr., so it is too soon to tell. But she did very well first semester academically and spent time between semesters w/ a group from her school in Louisiana building houses for Katrina victims. So it is looking promising.</p>
<p>So I think a top school is worth it only if a student takes advantage of what is offered.</p>
<p>"What reason do you send your kids to good college?"</p>
<p>Actually, we didn't "send" our kids anywhere. We encouraged them to do well in HS and to think seriously about the type of college environment they would like to have. The list of possibilities shrunk quickly when each one decided "I want 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 in a college, and I don't want A and B and C and D." As morrismm pointed out, college is what you make of it.</p>