"I want to major in something where I can help people"

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I'm not trying to piddle on anybody's dreams, but there is this statement I keep hearing over and over and over in various places, and it makes little sense to me. I probably hear it more than any other statement on future vocations. It goes like this:</p>

<p>"I want to major in something where I can help people."</p>

<p>OR</p>

<p>"I want a job where I can help people."</p>

<p>Sometimes "help people DIRECTLY" is added.</p>

<p>So for those of you who feel this way, I have a few questions:</p>

<p>1) What are some examples of jobs that <em>don't</em> help people? Legal jobs, don't list hitman or something.
2) Could you be fulfilled in a job where you weren't face-to-face with the people you helped?
3) You seem to be talking about service jobs, if I understand you correctly, so would you consider "waiter" or "HVAC repair" or "management consultant" to be a type of job you want?
4) The offensive question: I don't know how to phrase it politely so I'll just put it out there and hope you'll excuse any unintended rudeness: it seems to me that a lot of women in particular want to be "professional moms." IOW they want to be teachers, nurses, therapists, etc., stuff that seems like taking care of kids (even if they're actually servicing adults). Is this phenomena/trait/whatever the same thing as what I'm asking about? When women say "I want a job where I help people" do they really just want to be moms?</p>

<p>I ask question 1 because I believe pretty much every job helps somebody. Nobody would give you a paycheck if they didn't find your labor useful (iow, helpful) for some purpose. A guy who delivers food to restaurants is helping people--hungry people!</p>

<p>I ask question 2 because I think only a small portion of jobs fit the "directly helping people" criteria. Yes, we need doctors and nurses but we also need people designing CT scan machines, people who create the CAD/CAM software on which such machines are designed, people to create the compilers that the programmers use, people to manufacture the programmers' cars, the list goes on.</p>

<p>And again, I am not asking question 4 just to be inflammatory. If you found that question offensive, please calmly explain to me why.</p>

2

<p>I think people are typically referring to social work kind of jobs when they say that. Jobs like substance abuse counselors, child psychology, marriage counselors…things of that nature. It could also be relevant to someone who wanted to be a probation officer or something like that I suppose.</p>

<p>But, I too find that to be a very generalized statement to make. There are very few occupations in which you aren’t “helping” someone.</p>

3

<p>I don’t believe the majority of medical school applicants want to help people although most of them would say so in their essays or interviews.</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>Don’t hate the player, hate the game.</p>

5

<p>some of the smartest kids in the world (not exaggerating) go into finance after college WITH plans to donate (wisely) or use (wisely) their generated income to help people. there’s lots of ways to help people in significant ways these days - and how what you major in determines to what extent you do that is probably less relevant than ever. what matters is your intelligence, ethos, compassion for poor people, motivation to actually do something about injustice, those kinds of things.</p>

6

<p>I want to help people. But, more specifically, I want to help people in such a way that I will have a major impact on their lives. As a waiter, the effect I would have on an individual would be fleeting and superficial. But, as a therapist, I will be relating to the individual on a more personal level, and helping them with an aspect of their lives that touches on all other aspects, whether directly or indirectly. </p>

<p>I guess you could interpret it as a desire to be a “professional mom.” Though it seems offensive at first, it really is one of the greatest honours I personally could hope for, as my mom is one of the most trustworthy, knowledgeable, and influential people in my life. And I think it would be pretty cool to be regarded in that way by someone else, especially when they don’t feel obligated to do so because I’m family. :p</p>

<p>I think that to some extent, that’s what people mean by wanting to help others. They want to be an important helper, rather than mere background noise in an individual’s daily life. And though it’s not the only reason I’m going into my field, I do think that my desire to take on those responsibilities – and privileges – is not something to be diminished, and is a very important reason for why I do what I do.</p>

7

<p>^, seems like it would be easy to get your name and the OPs mixed up.</p>

8

<p>I am not one of these people who’s goal is to “help people” (of course I want my job to be useful and productive), but I don’t think this statement is very hard to interpret:</p>

<p>1) There aren’t many jobs that don’t help people, but their are jobs whose primary purpose isn’t “helping people.”
Example: civil engineers builds roads and those do help people. But the civil engineer takes his job satisfaction from an efficient and low-cost design. While working he isn’t imagining all the happy people who get to use his new interchange.
Example 2: Same thing with car mechanics. Yes, they are helping people get back on the road, but the reason they entered their trade is because they like working with cars and figuring out why they don’t work or how they could work better.
Example 3: Lawyers may be more interested with the intricacies of the law and figuring out how to win a legal battle than they are with the clients specifically. The lawyer may take on cases which involve a legal battle with no moral right/wrong side; he isn’t really helping a vulnerable person, he’s just working to win a legal dispute for a client he may be apathetic towards. I sure he is happy for his client when they win, but his motivation was probably personal pride/challenge/payment instead of specifically for the client.</p>

<p>These professionals are often motivated by professional advancement/achievements. Of course all of these professionals may elect to “help people” in their spare time. They could donate money to charity, or they could join Engineers Without Borders, donate time to serving low-income families, or take on charity cases (respectively). But their professions don’t explicitly involve interacting with and aiding vulnerable people like a person whose job is to “help people directly” would. The “help people” crowd are motivated by a personal fulfillment from knowing they served/helped someone to the best of their abilities.</p>

<p>3) My understanding is that the person “who helps people” doesn’t want to only provide a service like a waiter or a car repairman. They want to directly impact a person’s life which otherwise be of a much lower quality. As a nurse, they want to take extra time to listen to patients and ensure they are taken care of, both the emotionally and physically. As a social worker or therapist the same concept applies; they want to help someone get through problems and change their life for the better.</p>

<p>4) I don’t know whether the majority would find this offensive. At the root, they are interested in nurturing/taking care of a vulnerable person, which is similar to what a mother does. (though I assume the guys in this crowd would prefer “care-taking” or “supporting” over “mothering”)</p>

9

<p>Um, the statement “I want to major in something where I can help people,” actually means “I want a job where I know I’m making a difference in people’s lives and I see that just about every day.” It’s something a lot of people want. It’s not silly. It’s something that’s hard to explain. It’s a feeling. Something in your chest you can’t shake.</p>

<p>It’s not ****ing rocket science…</p>

10

<p>

I don’t think the question itself is offensive, it’s more likely your mindset or phrasing that’s gone awry. </p>

<p>Women, in general, are more nurturing than men so it’s not unexpected that more women would “want to help people”. I guess you could call them “professional moms”, but it doesn’t make sense. I guess you could says house cleaners are “professional moms”. Chefs in children’s hospitals are “professional moms”. You get the point. A job in which someone takes care of someone doesn’t make their job “motherly”. </p>

<p>I would love to be a stay at home mom. But for the time being I’m going to work in an industry in which I’m interested and make good money.</p>

<p>

Now this…This is a stupid question.</p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p>No.</p>

<p>ten characters</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>Then why not be a stay at home mom? It seems to me that this is the most important job there is and it would fulfill all of the requirements of helping people and having an important, lasting impact on peoples’ lives.</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>Could you explain why it is stupid?</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>Being a stay at home mom (or dad, for that matter) is not an option for many people for monetary reasons. It can be hard to support a family on one parent’s income.</p>

15

<p>

Staying at home won’t get me the materials things I want. </p>

<p>

No, you’ve got it wrong. Being an involved parent is the most important job there is.</p>

16

<p>I work on a crisis line for domestic violence survivors. I get to see how I make an impact on people every single day. It really, truly is extremely rewarding. Seeing a woman come in covered in blood and bruises and knowing that she is now SAFE because of my work. </p>

<p>OTOH, I also work at a library for the blind and physically handicapped. I help people but I hate my job. Most of my work is bureaucratic BS that is in no way helpful to the people we serve. Not even indirectly. It’s unnecessary paperwork and data entry. </p>

<p>Apparently, my (male) fiance wants to be a professional mom as he wants to work with kids :rolleyes:. He works as a caregiver.</p>

<p>I don’t understand the point of this. If you want to work with people directly, do it. If you want to work with machines, do it. My ex couldn’t stand working with people and loves working with machines. Why do you care what other people want to do with their lives?</p>

17

<p>Most people feel the need to be in a job that impacts people because they want to feel like they are important, that their life means something and that the world is better with them existing than without. Unfortunately, few people really reach that level of importance. Even if someone feels super important about himself because he helps the poor and oppressed, another schlub could probably just as easily take his place if he didn’t exist. In other words, no one’s absence in this world, if they didn’t exist, would really impact the world in any significant sense (unless you’re Jonas Salk or the Wright brothers). Probably the best average people can do is just create significance for themselves in whatever way fulfills them best–whether that be trying to make a difference in a random guy’s life, mowing the lawn, making origami, etc.</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>I’m sorry I was curious. I’ll stop asking questions since I now know it is wrong.</p>