<p>People love to beat parents up about educational choices-- because education is one area in which everyone is a self-appointed expert. We have four kids who’ve followed four different paths, so over the past 21 years we’ve been criticized by friends and relatives for: sending them to preschool, sending them to the the wrong kind of preschool, to the wrong kind of violin lessons, the other wrong kind of violin lessons, to the wrong kind of private school, the wrong other kind of private school, for homeschooling, for the wrong kind of homeschooling, for not homeschooling, for sending them to public school, for sending them to the wrong kind of public school, for taking music lessons too seriously, for not taking music lessons seriously enough, the wrong kind of college, the wrong major in college… At some point you just have to turn off the volume. </p>
<p>The point has already been made that there are very few pre-professional undergrad majors (accounting, engineering, nursing) and that any undergraduate degree can be the basis for a professional degree, if desired in a different field. A theater major (or an English/Philosophy/Art/Music major) will generally need to fill in a few courses to apply for certain kinds of professional schools. But the most important thing a degree does is to demonstrate that the student has been capable of fulfilling the requirements and completing the degree-- regardless of the major. There are many more drama majors who end up with careers in law, for example, than pre-law majors who end up with acting careers. The time to pursue your dreams is now.</p>
<p>A second issue is that of balance in the conservatory vs. university dilemma. My oldest daughter was criticized for double-majoring in English and Philosophy at a LAC, but at least no one could complain that she did not receive a “rounded” education at her college. D2 went to art school. I have honestly never seen anyone work as hard as she did during her fundamentals year at art school, but she is clearly not getting the balanced education craved by her grandparents-- there is not enough time. Ditto for D2, in a music conservatory. Both schools have a theoretical exchange program with prominent universities nearby, but hardly any student is able to take advantage of this theoretical opportunity due to impossibility of scheduling. One has to hope and trust that intelligent, curious human beings will continue to self-educate throughout their lives-- I ask anyone reading this if they have not learned much more about the processes of the world since leaving college. D4 will end up either at a university/college as an acting major or at a conservatory, depending on her luck with auditions. I know that if she chooses the former, we will be off the hook with relatives and friends who believe they know better than she or we do about what is best for her… but the volume is off so I won’t hear them.</p>