<p>
</p>
<p>I had no idea. Good thing that the wise men had Brightstar GPS System to get them to the correct one!</p>
<p>kxc, I am not disputing what you say! I really have no idea myself. I was just curious that your comment, which I do see echoed everywhere, was qualified by siliconmom’s comments. But since she is not on right now, my curiosity remains unsatisfied :).</p>
<p>OP, I understand your DH’s reaction very well. Watching our kids growing up and start to make their own decision is really a very painful experiences. At the end of the day, we need to take pride in what we taught them, be proud and support of their decision. </p>
<p>With my background, to provide and protect my family is the #1 goal. When a child wants to go out my comfort zone, it is really difficult. I, myself, is learning and struggling right now. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Parent of a math major here. Many, many folks who intend to major in math wind up hitting the wall and changing to a different area of studies. At many schools, Calc 2 is the weeder course, too. A significant part of the math major involves proofs and abstract thinking, and many math-inclined folks prefer the more practical side (actuarial math, stats, accounting, finance, econ). For a kid who is decent in math but doesn’t want to major in it, I’d encourage her to find other majors where she can leverage those quant skills and thereby make her more valuable in the workplace.</p>
<p>DH was an accounting undergrad and has found his math skills EXTREMELY useful as an attorney. It has given him a competitive advantage throughout his career.</p>
<p>My math major S has had no problem getting highly competitive programming jobs. DH and I have both kind of pulled out hair out over him not just getting a CS major while he’s at it, but it’s his life, not ours.</p>
<p>astrophysicsmom, our mutual friend also hated math, but when the physics courses involved using math as a tool, all was well. </p>
<p>Abasket, I can relate to the DH – DH is mourning that S1 is thinking about not going straight to grad school. S1 is not entirely thrilled with academia right now, is not sure his grades will get him into the schools he wants, etc. Instead, he’s looking at working some place that will pay him big bucks to do what he loves (and publishes in the field, so there is opportunity for S to add some research in the gig). Considering he will be barely 21 when he graduates, he has plenty of time to head back for a PhD. Where he’d be working would be a nice feather in the cap for grad school programs and would help compensate for the GPA. Plus, I think if you aren’t totally gung-ho about a STEM program, it will be an extremely tough slog to get through. </p>
<p>SteveC – I bookmarked your response – excellent observation!!!</p>
<p>I am willing to donate my C.C. username to your husband. It would certainly be a good fit.</p>
<p>abasket, I applaud your son for taking the initiative to actively explore other fields. He is definitely on the right track.</p>
<p>As just about everyone has said, this is your H’s problem, not your son’s. Eventually your H will have to find a way to deal with it. Meanwhile I would support your son and praise him for his self-knowledge and enterprising ways. He needs support from you to counter the blow of his father’s disapproval. I’d try to be sympathetic to your H’s apparent need to mourn his dream of a mathematician son. And not let him put you in the middle.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^^ :)</p>
<p>As a (non-practicing) lawyer, I think law school is great preparation for many things, so I wouldn’t summarily cut that out. And what the legal market will look like in 6 years (when OP’s S would graduate) is anyone’s guess. </p>
<p>But that’s not what I came here to say . . .</p>
<p>When (when, when, when) will (some) parents get it through their thick heads that their college student children are independent beings with their own strengths, weaknesses, desires and not a just an extension of the parent. I look at my own brother and shake my head - he has been telling his daughter since she was old enough to understand that she will be a doctor. (Brother is NOT a doctor nor did he ever think of being a doctor.) My niece has never indicated one bit of interest in being a doctor but here she is, a college sophomore, and a pre-med major. Unlike many other sad kids in her position that I’ve worked with over the years, she’s actually doing well in her pre-med courses, but that doesn’t change the fact she has NO desire to be a doctor. And that will come out in her med school interviews and my brother will be mystified why his beautiful, smart daughter did not get into med school. And she’ll have “wasted” 4 years taking courses that don’t get her where she wants to go. </p>
<p>Kids change majors all the time. I’ve worked in Honors programs for almost 20 years and bright students change majors the most - they’re interested in so many things. Kids go to college not really knowing what’s available to them. College is for exploration - they try things on and (if they’re lucky) figure out what excites them and head in that direction. </p>
<p>In my opinion, OP’s H needs a major attitude readjustment!</p>
<p>To get certified as a math teacher in NYS, one needs 30 credits in math. This is what state says</p>
<p>Acceptable studies include courses offered by a mathematics department that are considered core requirements toward a degree in mathematics. For example, courses in mathematical reasoning, quantitative methods, number theory and concepts, algebra, analytic geometry, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, data analysis, probability, and discrete mathematics are acceptable.
We do not accept computer science, accounting, finance and other courses that apply mathematics to solve problems that are not purely mathematical.</p>
<p>OP: I’m sorry you’re stuck in the middle. And I’m sorry that your DH is being unreasonable. My DH is usually pretty good but he does get stuck on the whole “make sure you’re employable” aspect of college. Sometimes it’s good (i.e. he has encouraged D1 to take some business classes) and sometimes it’s not so good (questioning the validity of a history degree.) Part of it for DH & I is that we were 1st generation college grads, so that degree was tied to a career almost in a vocational kind of mindset (and as I voice to him frequently neither of us in working in broadcasting 25 years later.)</p>
<p>One thing I heard a few years ago was that the jobs our kids will be doing 10 years from now don’t even exist today. I read your post this morning but didn’t have time to reply. Driving D2 to school this morning, we listened to an interview on The Bob & Tom Show with the creator of the website “Damn You Auto Correct” (which as an aside is one of the funniest things out there.) Jillian Madison mentioned that she runs 12 different pop culture websites, plus she’s got a new book out. They’re some of the most popular websites out there, so she’s making tons of money on advertising, etc. And I thought about your post. Can you imagine if Ms. Madison had said 10 years ago that she’d be living well by hosting a dozen websites about pop culture? We couldn’t have envision the growth of online advertising, never mind smart phones. Who knows what/where our current college students will be doing for work in 2021.</p>
<p>I think you need to be your son’s advocate and help coach him on how to deal with his dad. They really need to work this out, and your son has to learn how to be respectfully forceful with his opinion. One thing that works for my family is that I help my girls work out how to frame their requests in a way that speaks to the issues that are DH’s hot buttons.</p>
<p>Abasket, you should be very proud of your son. He is being very mature and very thoughtful about his skills. Give your husband time to adjust to the idea that his son won’t be a “math guy” – just a well educated guy who happens to have done a fair amount of math in college. That’s already a pretty good background for a lot of jobs and a lot of grad school programs. You know this, your son knows this - and your husband will come around to knowing this too.</p>
<p>Clearly your H is over the line on this one and trying to live 'vicariousparent’s moniker through your S. Your H needs to realize how selfish this is of him. But to cut him some slack, your H may truly feel that the other plans of sports/law are a dead end path career-wise. If your S is interested in doing so, he could perhaps dig into each of these paths from a potential career aspect, including talking with the career guidance counselors and student placement department at his college. He could come back to your H with some quantitative data - something your H should understand. The research would help your S as well to make sure his eyes are wide open as to the job prospects, something that’ll be important to him down the road.</p>
<p>One thing your S shouldn’t do is stick with something he hates. That’s different, however, than sticking with somethibg he’s having some struggles with now. It’s possible that he could overcome his struggles and end up doing well as a math major but only if he actually likes it. </p>
<p>The first year or so of college is often a time for students to explore their options, to find out that what they thought they’d like, they don’t really like, and to discover other opportunities they might not have even known existed. The angst of some of this discovery can be much more difficult if a parent is strongly pushing in a single direction since now it’s no longer a matter of switching away from something he doesn’t like and moving on to something more appealing, but a matter of knowing he’s disappointing a parent which of course, will disappoint himself. That’s baggage that’s just unfair to heap on him and shackle him with.</p>
<p>Good luck to him.</p>
<p>OP–after hitting your DH with a frying pan, you might remind him of that whole “love the kid on the couch” thing I learned here on CC. Your son sounds wonderful.</p>
<p>And I have to weigh in on the opposite side of not getting in the middle. Not fun, and not the ideal solution, but I’ve often found myself standing up for my kids. Moms are the best at that.</p>
<p>{{hugs and sympathy}}</p>
<p>I am sorry that I can not think of anything to really help change your H’s mind. I understand that your H wants what he feels is best for your S. He feels that being a high school math teacher is a good stable career. It may or may not be but that is not the point. Your S does not like math. Try to make your H understand that S deserves to be happy and to attempt a career that he feels will make him happy. Being a teacher in a subject that he does not enjoy for the next 40 years of his life is not going to make him happy. </p>
<p>My advice to to try and convince your S that it is okay to pursue his dreams and major in something that he enjoys despite what his Dad would prefer. I think your energy should be spent on supporting your son and convincing him that he does not have to be a math teacher if he does not want to.</p>
<p>If your S really wanted to teach HS math as a career (your S - not your H 
), couldn’t he do that without being a math major? I really don’t know what credentials are required to teach HS math but surely there are math teachers with degrees other than math.</p>
<p>But of course if he did then the whole career prospect aspects apply since getting a job as a HS teacher isn’t a slam dunk - maybe even for math. There’s the other issue in that some people think they want to be a teacher until they actually have to teach a HS class and then desicover they’re not so crazy about it for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>Regardless, this is for your S to decide with the parents acting in a consultant mode if requested and the support mode that you’re shouldering.</p>
<p>Rather than get yourself in the middle of this, give your son the strength/courage to stand up to his father. Remind your son that there are going to be many times in his life when he’s going to have to make decisions that he thinks are best, but may not be agreeable to others.
Learning how to respectfully stand up to his father is good practice.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Some schools have a major in “Math for K-12 Math Teachers” or something like that:
[Course</a> Requirements: Major with a Teaching Concentration - UC Berkeley Department of Mathematics](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/undergraduate_major_require_teach.html]Course”>http://math.berkeley.edu/undergraduate_major_require_teach.html)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>He should be careful with Sports Business to make sure that it is not too limiting compared to regular Business, Economics, etc., and that it is not the type of “major for football and basketball players” that gets a reputation for being lightweight academics.</p>
<p>He can major in anything for law school, although going to a good law school requires a high GPA in whatever he majors in.</p>
<p>In our state, to teach math one needs at least a minor in math.</p>
<p>^^ I was just wondering what degrees other than a math degree HS math teachers might typically have. I assume they can have other degrees but don’t really know. Since abasket’s S is very good at HS math, regardless of the issues he might be having currently, if he wanted to be a HS math teacher maybe there are other degrees he could pursue yet still end up teaching HS math if that’s what he decides to do when done. It seems that engineering, econ, accounting, some sciences, physics, and some other degrees might be credentials enough to be able to teach HS Algebra or Calc.</p>