Do you direct or encourage/discourage kids in their career path

[georgiegirl]

For STEM, one major that would concern me is biology. DS looked into it and said it’s the top major choice for pre-med majors. With over 50% of those students dropping off the premed track, that leaves a lot of students with biology degrees trying to find jobs after graduation.

I think a lot of those students totally drop science in general.


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[smilequeen]

DS1 applied to business school and he’s not 100% sure of it, although he has taken and enjoyed a few business electives in HS. He has helped us out both in our dental offices and our main business office and while he enjoyed how much busier the dental offices are, he likes business more.

That said, he also had special education as his 2nd option for a major and *that* we’ve had some conversations about…different ways to use his gift with kids with special needs (things like developmental psychology, PT, OT, etc.).

[DualvansMommy]

For STEM, one major that would concern me is biology. DS looked into it and said it’s the top major choice for pre-med majors. With over 50% of those students dropping off the premed track, that leaves a lot of students with biology degrees trying to find jobs after graduation.

My ex majored in biology with the intention to in pre med so his degree is in biology. Works in R&D now and plenty of degrees where you end up in a study that isn’t relevant to direct career still happens lots.


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[essnce629]

DS is only an 8th grader, but we have had conversations about choices his friends have made. He just told me that his swim coach is a Japanese major because he failed out of classes for his initial major. Not sure what his future career goals are or if that aligns, but I did use it as an example for Ds.

Ha, well DS1 is a sophomore in college and plans to be a Japanese major lol!

In middle school he was a math/science/STEM kid but did a complete 180 in high school and became a full blown humanities kid (although he's always been a prolific reader so not surprising). He's at a small liberal arts college where you don't have to declare a major till the end of sophomore year and he's gotten to take his distribution classes in lots of different areas and is thinking of adding a second major or minor in film & media studies. I listened to a college podcast a few months ago that interviewed a Northeastern student who speaks Japanese, was interested in psych/film/media, and did her co-op in Japan at 2 different Japanese entertainment companies (one a small podcast company and the other a large music company). She sounded just like DS and after her co-op she planned to get an internship at an American entertainment company to compare the differences in culture, etc before deciding if she wanted to work here or in Japan. DS's goal was to move to Japan one day so who knows how it will turn out. In my eyes, the point of college is to further your education. The majority of people don't work in a field directly related to their major, but hopefully your college education helps to you become a better critical thinker, better communicator, better writer, etc which are all critically important in most jobs. DH was a journalism major with minors in English and political science. His excellent writing and communication skills are probably the most important in his job as an attorney.

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[anonomom]

Ha, well DS1 is a sophomore in college and plans to be a Japanese major lol!

In middle school he was a math/science/STEM kid but did a complete 180 in high school and became a full blown humanities kid (although he's always been a prolific reader so not surprising). He's at a small liberal arts college where you don't have to declare a major till the end of sophomore year and he's gotten to take his distribution classes in lots of different areas and is thinking of adding a second major or minor in film & media studies. I listened to a college podcast a few months ago that interviewed a Northeastern student who speaks Japanese, was interested in psych/film/media, and did her co-op in Japan at 2 different Japanese entertainment companies (one a small podcast company and the other a large music company). She sounded just like DS and after her co-op she planned to get an internship at an American entertainment company to compare the differences in culture, etc before deciding if she wanted to work here or in Japan. DS's goal was to move to Japan one day so who knows how it will turn out. In my eyes, the point of college is to further your education. The majority of people don't work in a field directly related to their major, but hopefully your college education helps to you become a better critical thinker, better communicator, better writer, etc which are all critically important in most jobs. DH was a journalism major with minors in English and political science. His excellent writing and communication skills are probably the most important in his job as an attorney.

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I agree wholeheartedly with all of this. Let kids get a broad education, and they come out with skills they can use in a variety of jobs.

My eldest wants to go into the performing arts, and I'm interfering only to the extent that I'm encouraging them to get a liberal arts education with their chosen major, as opposed to a conservatory-style education that focuses narrowly on training. They know that success in their chosen field is a long shot and they do have a backup plan, but I also think they have genuine talent and that they may as well try to pursue their dream. I'd rather they try and fail then have them pre-emptively decide that they won't succeed.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Everyone defines success differently too. Someone(s) used the word "independent" before and that's my goal too for my kids. Happy and able to pay their bills and have a roof over their head is my definition of success. I don't need them to have some fancy title. If they want one, rock on. Their career choices aren't a reflection on me or a judgment on my parenting...at least, they shouldn't be.

[jgenie]

Everyone defines success differently too. Someone(s) used the word "independent" before and that's my goal too for my kids. Happy and able to pay their bills and have a roof over their head is my definition of success. I don't need them to have some fancy title. If they want one, rock on. Their career choices aren't a reflection on me or a judgment on my parenting...at least, they shouldn't be.

This is my goal too. I want kids who are happy and able to provide for themselves. Anything more is icing on the cake.

[klwa]

I try to make sure my kids know what a specific field means, but haven't discouraged them from anything. Of course, it's mainly DD1 who has thoughts. DS is still "trying to decide". So, now, I'm more worried about getting him to really think about the future since he's a junior and decisions must be made at some point. But, I'll look up the amount/type of schooling required. Try to get them to talk to friends/people I know who work in that field or adjacent to it. I haven't gotten to the point of "Only 15% of people who graduate in that field work in that field," or anything like that yet, but I think it's a reasonable talking point. So, more an overarching discussion than an "encourage/discourage" type thing.