<p>^^nice. especially the edit</p>
<p>I know several feminists who chose to be stay-at-home-mothers.</p>
<p>Feminism is a dirty word</p>
<p>One of my nieces actually put herself through college working as a circus acrobat, then was a full-time acrobat with a travelling circus for a number of years. She had a great life – she has lived for 2-3 months at a time in 15-16 major cities, mostly in Europe, with lots of time off during the day for sightseeing. And of course she is in incredible shape.</p>
<p>What was she in college? Oh yeah, a pre-med. She now has no interest whatsoever in medical school. She might want to be a physical therapist, but for the moment she is doing really well as a personal trainer and yoga instructor. It’s hard to give up the money and clients for a lot of additional training that doesn’t lead to a lot more income.</p>
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Agree … and most of the schools that a lot of CC posters are overly infatuated with do not, for the most part, have these “practical” majors … the lion’s share of graduates of these schools are liberal arts majors in “useless” fields such as english, government, biology, etc.</p>
<p>I wasn’t suggesting that nursing and teaching aren’t sensible careers for people interested in women’s studies–rather, it was the idea that somebody interested in women’s studies should focus primarily on a “traditional” women’s career that blew my mind.
I don’t denigrate nursing at all–indeed, I think more men should go into it.</p>
<p>JHS - I don’t doubt that there are feminists in nursing schools – it was more a reaction to the concept of “a girl who is interested in women’s studies should study teaching or nursing because those are the traditional women’s careers.” Uh - a feminist should study whatever the heck she wants to, whether it’s Etruscan art, Spanish literature, civil engineering, or nuclear physics! There was just some rather fun dissonance going on there …</p>
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<p>Abject fear and terror drive the STEMmies like Gussied – abject fear that there is nothing out there that pays a dime other than engineering and similar careers. There’s no trust in the universe, no faith that smart and hard working people will eventually land something and that the twists and turns of life make it more interesting. The idea of “temporary jobs including selling jewelry” just frightens the living daylights out of them.</p>
<p>Oh I’m sorry is Women’s Studies the equivalent of saying I want to grow up to be Gloria Steinem? Oh my mistake. I thought it was the real study of real women’s lives. Oops! The civil engineer is obviously concerned that her daughter is going to graduate and starve. Can I make your heads all explode again - if you force her to go to Engineering school she will just come home after one year engaged to a graduating senior! Boom Boom Boom. But it is true. I’ve seen it happen. I did like the suggestiong that if she wants to major in something that just doesn’t make sense to you that she should find herself a full ride. That will take dedication and perserverance. Something she is going to need no matter what she majors in.</p>
<p>Sandra Day O’Connor attended Stanford University, where she received her B.A. in economics in 1950 … wonder if her parents think her career turned out OK. </p>
<p>Hillary Rodman Clinton enrolled at Wellesley College, where she majored in political science … wonder if her parents think her career turned out OK.</p>
<p>Olympia Bouches Stowe attended the University of Maine in Orono, Maine in 1969, where she earned a degree in political science … wonder if her parents think her career turned out OK.</p>
<p>Oprah Winfrey secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication … wonder if her parents this her career turned out OK.</p>
<p>These examples were not cherry picked … they were the first 4 women I thought to check. In our house college is a time to discover interests, to learn to think, to learn to communicate, and to start their life journey.</p>
<p>Just jumping in to say that my daughter the potential clown is now a musician with a sense of humor (!), but my dancer daughter does talk about attending circus college for trapeze/aerial work. :)</p>
<p>As for nursing, I just want to apologize for any unintended meaning. Nurses are the most unfairly depicted profession (tv shows seem to have MD’s by the bedside rather than nurses, totally unrealistic) in our culture. I have worked with nurses in Appalachia who did home health care by horse and jeep, and with nurses who ran homeless clinics at shelters. It is a nurse who helped me through child birth and comforted my children after surgery. I have also attended nurses’ conferences with my friends. Nurses have direct impact on every patient, and there are endless opportunities in the field: primary care, psychopharmacology, research, management, counseling, working for medical device companies or insurance companies,not to mention all the specialties. It is, indeed a “traditional role” for women in the sense that nurses used to be exclusively women, but today many men are nurses, and the profession requires very advanced skills. Women’s studies might have a course on health care for women, as an example, and would examine the role women have played in health care, as patients, providers and advocates. The goal of the course would not be directing women into any particular field, anyway.</p>
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<p>He should be aware that some majors do have longer prerequisite chains or larger numbers of requirements (geology and environmental science probably; math usually does not have a lot of requirements, but the prerequisite chain can be long if he starts in first semester freshman calculus; art and music can also need attention here). So while he is exploring his interests, he may want to be sure to take the courses needed for all of the majors he might choose so that he can retain those options and not be delayed in graduation if he decides late.</p>
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<p>Once again, why do people think that “STEM” and “liberal arts” are disjoint sets?</p>
<p>As for nursing, I regret that I could not go to nursing school at one point in my life, and I still think about it.</p>
<p>I have a friend who is in nursing school & he is 63 ( his previous career was English prof)
He loves it- except he tends to over think the exams.</p>
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<p>Assuming that you chose a STEM field that actually does lead to decent job and career prospects (not chemistry or super-popular biology), then you pay off your student loans.</p>
<p>(Do I have to say it again that “STEM” and “liberal arts” are not disjoint sets?)</p>
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<p>You’re obviously pretty ignorant about it, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s friends was told by her parents what college majors they would pay for and what they would not. The ‘yes’ list was mostly hard sciences and engineering, with a big push to aim towards med schooll the ‘no’ list included business and ‘softer’ liberal arts. They had her apply to 10+ schools (she couldn’t even keep them straight) and I believe she got into all but 1. In the end she choose an all-women’s school that I think will suit her well, but I can’t believe the anxiety the parents put her through.</p>
<p>When I think of STEM, I think, well… science technology engineering and math, with an emphasis on the engineering part</p>
<p>Liberal Arts to me is humanities, arts, and some social sciences. I’m not gonna sit here and try to knock economics, that’d be stupid. Even things like political science, international relations, etc. </p>
<p>So maybe that was causing some confusion</p>
<p>Some of the posts by some of the parent on here though, man. Some of you <em>cough</em> PizzaGirl <em>cough</em> seem to just know exactly how every STEM major and parents of STEM majors thinh, huh? Anything we do you know the real reason behind it.</p>
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<p>There has been at least one thread by a student who wanted to study engineering, but had parents who disapproved and wanted him to do pre-med or pre-law (it did seem that neither the student nor the parents understood that any student in any major can be pre-law, as there are no specific course prerequisites for law school, or that pre-med can be done in any major, though the schedule would be crowded as an engineering major).</p>
<p>3togo:</p>
<p>I have a 17 year old who ‘knows’ he wants to major in civil engineering. His HS offered several courses through the Project Lead the Way pre-engineering curriculum. He has taken HS courses in engineering design, engineering theory, and a course in civil engineering and architecture.</p>
<p>Of course he may get to college, explore, and change his mind. I fully support college as a time of exploration and in fact I’m a little frustrated by the fact that our HS does so many dual credit courses. My son will finish HS with 31 credits on a college transcript and a girl last year graduated with 53 credits. It doesn’t leave much time to explore when you’re beginning college with junior standing.</p>
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<p>Liberal arts includes math and science as well as humanities and social studies.</p>
<p>[Liberal</a> arts | Define Liberal arts at Dictionary.com](<a href=“http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/liberal+arts]Liberal”>http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/liberal+arts)
[Liberal</a> arts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts]Liberal”>Liberal arts education - Wikipedia)
[liberal</a> arts - definition of liberal arts by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.](<a href=“Liberal arts]liberal - definition of liberal arts]liberal by The Free Dictionary”>Liberal arts - definition of liberal arts by The Free Dictionary)</p>