<p>H and I both chose majors based on financial security and are advising our S’s to do the same.</p>
<p>The college years are the time to explore your passions, and with a little luck, figure out a way to manage financial security doing something you enjoy. I believe it’s important to find the field you like first, and then look at the economic possibilites within the field.
I know many 50-somethings employed in jobs they don’t particularly like, but continue because they are financially comfortable and don’t want to take the financial hit they would take if they quit to persue their passions. These people are not particularly happy, and they live for their weekends. I don’t know anyone that age, however, who has followed their interests/passions in their careers and not been able to find someway of putting food on the table while doing so. It may have taken them longer to make it work, but those who stuck with it are the happiest. Their happiness spills over to their family life as well.</p>
<pre><code>I’m advising both of my children to find their passions, and become very, very good at what they do. The financial rewards will follow.
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<p>I took one class in philosophy where the professor also happened to be a physicist (and old enough to have corresponded with Einstein back in the day). His advice: major in a subject you like, because if you can’t find a job afterwards at least you’ll be unemployed in an interesting field.</p>
<p>I majored in art and architectural history in college (given the high falutin name of Visual and Environmental Studies because it was Harvard.) It didn’t prepare me for a job, but it was great prep for grad school in architecture. I don’t have too many regrets about my education. I’ve been gainfully employed most of my post student life. My sister in law is probably the one who had the most trouble figuring out what to do with her “useless” degree - she has been school bus driver, children’s librarian, journalist, nursery school teacher, high school teacher, would be priest (they didn’t accept her) and most recently and happily real estate developer - she bought some land with and will be creating a “new urbanism” style neighborhood. Some day she may even write that great American novel she wanted to write when she was 18.</p>
<p>This questions begs a discussion on class.</p>
<p>The ability to pursue an intellectual or artistic subject for enjoyment depends on financial circumstances. Most students cannot afford such luxury but if they can, then yes, I say pursue a subject you love with an eye to developing a skill you also enjoy. That is my advice to my boys. </p>
<p>If the subject and skill are intertwined, all the better.</p>
<p>cheers,</p>
<p>Excellent point about class. Often, those young people who can most afford to pursue what they love feel the most pressure–either internal or external–to enter a well-paying profession. But in those cases, of course, it’s more about the conflation of money and prestige; the culture of wealth, like that of poverty, is self-perpetuating.</p>
<p>My mom double majored in Russian literature and international relations/economics at a university in Europe that I’m sure none of you have ever heard of… she used to be a diplomat and is now an expert on European/Central Asian politics at a well-known international organization, loves her job, and makes a decent salary. So maybe “pursuing what you love but from a practical angle” could be one alternative?</p>
<p>Unless one is planning a college route with a degree at the end that leads directly into a line of work (i.e. teaching, nursing, etc), most college degrees are not exactly “skill oriented”.</p>
<p>I have been trying to explain that to some well meaning relatives, who seem to think that an English or History degree, for example, is somehow more marketable than my son’s interest in majoring in music performance. I don’t see the difference, frankly, between the sociology or psychology major, and the music or art major.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree that there may be a class element to this, but then I suspect that many degrees are not exactly marketable to any significant degree, and believe that people should study an area about which they are passionate, if at all possible.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles Times had an article related to this topic this morning.</p>
<p><a href=“For First-Time Job Hunters, Pay Shouldn't Be Top Priority”>For First-Time Job Hunters, Pay Shouldn't Be Top Priority;
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<p>Allmusic…my definition of skill is quite broad. Writing is a skill, research is a skill, organization is a skill–performance is a skill. Thus a student might pursue literature–with an eye to pollishing his or her writing skills, or they might pursue history with an eye toward polishing a research skill.</p>
<p>But this is still a luxury for the chattering classes. Though I don’t know the stats, most students probably go to university to develop a ‘trade’ skill with an idea of lifting themselves up the socioeconomic ladder. My father and father-in-law did exactly that.</p>
<p>My mother studied for the sheer enjoyment of it–but that was a gift from her well to do father. She passed that gift on to me and I have passed it onto my sons.</p>
<p>I had no idea that my profession would lift my economic status when I started architecture school. Architects can muddle along financially. Given my privileged background, is it surprising that I was able to transform a passion for art and creativity into a income generating profession? I say no.</p>