Help - To Major In Music... Or Not

StacJip
Tue, 30 Jun 2015 11:26:47 +0000

I could fill this post with stories of both success and failures among liberal arts graduates, science graduates and artists. So many factors go into success I am not sure you can quantify it. And one must realize that the world is changing. Doctors and Lawyers no longer are guaranteed a good income. Computer programmers are constantly at risk of loosing their jobs to outsourcing overseas. Academics can no longer depend on tenure. Corporations no longer hire people for life. Many Americans are one health care crisis away from bankruptcy. One person’s mansion is a 3 bedroom ranch house in suburbia. While that same house is another person’s idea of failure.

All that being said bridgenail college is not necessarily a one shot opportunity. Learning is a lifetime pursuit. I have returned to school at 50 to pursue a career I did not pursue when I was young. My own daughter started off at a conservatory studying theater and is now a Nurse Practitioner. I buy my bread from a man who was a successful Jazz Bass Player who now has a very successful artisan bread company. My dog trainer went to the Frost School of music and also has a rock band. My CSA where I get my vegetables every week is run by a woman who attended NEC for Jazz Vocals and who also taught art at a school for children with language based LDs. And if you are the type to find those stories of alternate careers depressing think about one of the engineers working on the Landing Curiosity on Mars who went to Berklee or what about Brian Greene who was a famous musician and is now a professor of Astrophysics in the UK and a book author.

The worst thing that can happen to any of these kids is for them to become passive or disinterested in life and learning. It drives me crazy to see smart talented kids go off to top colleges and then they take easy courses so they can continue to get good grades and party. When they are done they look for jobs in finance or banking. They have been taught that all that matters is that they make money and that is how they measure their self-worth.