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It's a controlling behavior, but not necessarily a conservative one.
An ex's parents dictated that he pursue his degree in a medical-related field/the hard sciences, because they were a nurse and a chemist, and that was their milieu. Not a politically conservative family. He was also an only child, first generation born in the U.S. and there were cultural forces at play that one follows in the steps of one's parents. He ended up studying environmental science and works for the EPA. They were paying for his education, so he operated within the bounds of their preferences.
I chose a course of study that was practical for me (English degree, FWIW, which has proven to be enormously practical), and I had free reign to do so, because I was funding my own education and taking on loans myself for the small portion that wasn't funded...my parents weren't in the mix, financially. But even so, they were never of the opinion that their job as parents extended into dictating what I or my siblings would or wouldn't study, anyway. Instead, we were raised to be self-aware enough to make our own choices in life.
You are lucky to have parents that allowed you study anything you had a passion for. My parents, well my mother at least is the total opposite. She wanted me to go to pharmacy school after completing 2 years of my chemistry degree. My mother is a pharmacist and she graduated about 10 years ago in 2005 when the profession was hot and they was a clear shortage of pharmacist. She had 3 job offers from 3 of the major retail pharmacies after she passed her NAPLEX exam and obtain her pharmacy liscence that gave her a sign on bonus and a six figure starting salary. She told "take the PCAT and apply to pharmacy school! You don't want to have to worry about job security and money for the rest of your life" I refused to take that route and decided to complete my bachelors in chemistry last December and I am currently working a temp to hire position as an associate chemist. My true passion was working and synthesizing polymers and my dream job was to do research and formulations of polymers. I didn't want to be a pharmacist because filling prescriptions and counting pills is a very boring job even though the six figure compensation was very generous; however, my career as a chemist has been so mind numbing boring that my passion for chemistry is rapidly declining. The current company I work for does not allow any of the temps or entry level associate chemists sit in the meetings to discuss the current research projects even though we signed a confidentiality statement. It's like I am working a strictly do as you told job. Cure that formaldehyde resin, place these samples in the tube furnace, analyze the surface area and pore size structure of the samples, check the viscocities of the samples. All I have been doing is grunt work the who 5 months I been in this position and it's not challenging at all and the pay is quite disappointing. My mother was not quite pleased as she turned up her nose when I told her I working as a bench associate chemist temp to hire job for $17 an hour with no benefits. She gave me the I told you should of went to pharmacy school, you followed your passion and now you are stuck in a rut working a boring job that doesn't pay much better than the job you had in high school. I told her pharmacy wasn't my passion as you don't even like it yourself. The only reason you went into it was for the money. I did tell I don't expect to be in this position for no longer than 2 years even when this job becomes permanant if I am not promoted to a more fulfilling role within 2 years I am leaving for a job with the CDC or EPA. If I can't get a job there I will move to Boston and work for one of the biotech companies as chemists seem to be appreciate more in the New England district in contrast to Atlanta. I just hope I can conduct fullfilling research as a chemist and not just be some lab monkey testing and analyzing samples all day. I didn't presue my chemistry degree to do grunt work. So I say this STEM degrees are not all that glamorous or practical as everyone claims. I was watching Fox News the other day and heard Sean Hannity say millineals are lazy for not presuing a STEM degree but non practical degree majors are complaint how underemployed they are with their liberal arts degrees. As you know Fox News is the typical blame the American for not having a good paying job attitude because they didn't major in a practical field or didn't try hard enough. Honestly, I am trying really hard to make a career as a true research chemist, I did two years of unpaid work in an analytical lab and work as a research assistant synthesizing cyanine dyes and half the jobs I applied to were contract to hire jobs with garbage man wages, chemist jobs that were out of state, boring quality control chemist jobs, or super highly competive government jobs that are impossible to get unless you have several years of experience and a lot of connections. My ultimate goal is to get a government job with the CDC but they had over 1000 applicants for one chemist position. I say certan stem degrees aren't much more practical than the social science/liberal arts degrees as most R&D facilities are just looking for warm bodies to do their lab bench work and don't have a need for you to lead any of their research projects unless you have a PHD in chemistry and specific experience with product development and formulations work.
Yes, it does appear to be a conservative trend to push STEM. I know quite a few conservatives and they are not fans of liberal arts educations - or liberal arts colleges that are not church affiliated.
The take issue with the fact that subjects such as "Social Deviance" will not tell students that prostitution and drug use, to give two examples, are "wrong". They will be studied in a "value free" environment.
They avoid philosophy and history because they are not taught with a "Christian world view". They avoid the arts because visual artists do not only paint nature or little cottages in the woods - they learn to paint the human body using a live nude model. In a writing class that is secular, people can write about anything they want - including sexual situations. The arts are too free and dangerous.
So, they do tend to push their children to major in nursing, computer science, physical therapy. elementary education and special ed - as various types of engineering.
When I reference a "Christian College" - I am not talking about most Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist Jewish, and other mainstream religions
I am talking about places such as Liberty, Houghton, Southeastern, Bob Jones, Evangel and Oral Roberts. There are many other ultra right wing fundamentalist Christian colleges. But there are a few examples.
If I were you, I would not try to put a square peg into a round hole. It will end up backfiring. There are many good colleges that are moderate and not wildly liberal.
If he is interested in political science and writing, please encourage your son to study these subjects at the best possible colleges out there!
What is impractical is attempting to make your son into someone he is not.
Wishing both of you the best!
I agree that conservatives considered STEM and Education degrees provide more value to society. I attend a church in one of the considered affluent Atlanta surburbs and the pastors and members of this church are conservative as they get. I remember the pastor having a duscussion to the congregation that majoring in philosohy, history, biology, chemistry, and physics is not godly or conservative as those degrees go a gainer the bible. I was disappointed that he thinks chemistry goes against the bible as that is not true. Maybe he can say that for biology with Charles Dawrin's origin of species goes against that God created everything but saying chemistry goes against the bible is ludicrous. My pastor said these majors support very liberal views and agenda and don't let your children major in liberal arts and chemistry, biology, and physics. He said conservative= godly and liberal= going to hell. If your child doesn't major in computer science, engineering, math, nursing, education, information technology, or theology they are not a conservative. I thought this were some very ignorant views and found his assumptions to be very bias.
I don't think politics can be directly linked to your degree choice. Is it a good choice to pick a "practical" degree? Of course it is, many college programs are geared towards helping you become gainfully employed. There are careers in every field, but some markets are simply over-saturated or have low job availability.
I was taught to take what you are most passionate about and make that your hobby; then pick something you are good at (and is interesting to you) and make that your career.
I'm a gearhead, I love cars and motorcycles. Similar to your son, I dropped out of college after two years because I didn't have a sense of direction. Naturally, I turned to my passion and started working on cars, thinking how great it would be to do what I love every day. How wrong that was... after 3 years, I was hating my job, and I had zero interest in doing anything related to cars once I clocked out at the end of the day. It completely burned me out on my passion. Working on my cars or even a race day became a chore rather than an excitement.
I went with the next option, something interesting that I am good at, which happened to be math and engineering. Went back to school, got my degree, and absolutely love my field of work. I get to learn new things every day and have been involved in some great projects that I am proud to have my name attached to. Even better, it allows me to enjoy my passions and hobbies and simply live life.
OP, your son may love writing and learning, but I would encourage him to consider his potential career options for the degrees he is interested in. Perhaps there is some other field that he finds interesting and within his skillset that allows him to learn and be passionate about his work, yet retain his writing, reading, and blogging as a hobby or even side-venture. I wouldn't even consider enrolling in classes at this point without some sort of career goal in mind.
As a sidenote, I know there are C-Ders that push college as an intellectual pursuit rather than a career prep, which by all means is great. I'd love to take more history, literature, and language classes to expand my knowledge of the world, but for most people college is their stepping stone into a career.
However, most people who are hiring, prefer people with strong liberal arts backgrounds. People who can express themselves verbally, and in writing, with clarity. People who understand others from different cultures, and are able to see situations through their world view.
Flexible people, who are able to read and absorb knowledge and apply that to practical situations.
These are the skills that are unique to those who graduate with a liberal arts education.
Long time ago. A lot has changed in the job market since then, especially in print journalism. Are you keeping up with the fortunes of very recent graduates in your major?
I've been continually employed in fields utilizing my skills since that first job, so I'm pretty well-versed on how in-demand they continue to be, across careers. Writers are still as employable as they ever were if they're good...loads of colleagues of mine are still in journalism, including my brother, who is supporting his family and still working in...wait for it...newspapers. Formats change, the call for the skill still exists. As I'm in academia currently, yes, I'm pretty well in tune with career development options within my area of specialization, overall.
FWIW, my sister graduated much more recently than I did, with a similar degree (although her degree, communications was notably less literary in nature), also from an excellent school, and had zero problems parlaying it into her career of choice in the legal field. And she graduated in the throes of our most recent recession.
The need for strong written and verbal communicators still very much exists in a wide array of fields, and the average size of the pool of applicants with a high degree of competency at either is notably shrinking.
Last edited by TabulaRasa; 07-05-2015 at 10:24 PM..
However, most people who are hiring, prefer people with strong liberal arts backgrounds. People who can express themselves verbally, and in writing, with clarity. People who understand others from different cultures, and are able to see situations through their world view.
Flexible people, who are able to read and absorb knowledge and apply that to practical situations.
These are the skills that are unique to those who graduate with a liberal arts education.
I've been continually employed in fields utilizing my skills since that first job, so I'm pretty well-versed on how in-demand they continue to be, across careers. Writers are still as employable as they ever were if they're good...loads of colleagues of mine are still in journalism, including my brother, who is supporting his family and still working in...wait for it...newspapers. Formats change, the call for the skill still exists. As I'm in academia currently, yes, I'm pretty well in tune with career development options within my area of specialization, overall.
The need for strong written and verbal communicators still very much exists in a wide array of fields, and the average size of the pool of applicants with a high degree of competency at either is notably shrinking.
That didn't answer the question as to how well new graduates are doing in their search for their first jobs.
However, most people who are hiring, prefer people with strong liberal arts backgrounds. People who can express themselves verbally, and in writing, with clarity. People who understand others from different cultures, and are able to see situations through their world view.
Flexible people, who are able to read and absorb knowledge and apply that to practical situations.
These are the skills that are unique to those who graduate with a liberal arts education.
Employees look for people such as these.
That describes my daughter perfectly, yet she had an extremely difficult time finding a job right out of college in three different states.
Actually, it describes me as well, and as I followed her in her job search, I saw that I'd also have a difficult time if I had to start afresh.
That didn't answer the question as to how well new graduates are doing in their search for their first jobs.
I can only answer your question anecdotally, is that what you are looking for? I would imagine that "how well new graduates are doing in their search for their first jobs" depends, as it always has, on a number of variables, including where they are looking, whether their searches are taking place in areas and regions with an abundance of employment opportunities, what salary expectations they hold, what their academic records look like, the reputation of their school/program and its accreditation, any internships or practica they held and networking contacts they made, etc.
These factors are all significant, regardless of one's course of study. Ultimately, prepare yourself well to work in your field of choice, make decisions appropriate to your goals, and make a point to excel in your area of interest, and you're not likely to hit many barricades to success. Most people who are unsuccessful in pursuit of their preferred career find that they have prepared for the realities of their chosen field poorly, that they made unwise choices that hindered the pursuit of their goals, and/or were not particularly outstanding or notable students and did not make the most of their resources as students - often all of the above. This holds true regardless what content area one studies.
Actually, it describes me as well, and as I followed her in her job search, I saw that I'd also have a difficult time if I had to start afresh.
It's interesting, because I'm starting afresh right now, with a master's degree in a slightly different area, albeit one that continues to use the same skill set. I'm not in the least worried about job placement, however.
I wish my parents had instead of letting me stumble around until I ended up in one. It would have saved a lot of time and money, and I would have been more motivated to study and do well once I was in it. Instead I got the "do what you love" crap. Well what I love is eating pizza, reading, watching movies, and playing video games, but I knew I. High school I couldn't make a career out of any of those.
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. I was disappointed that he thinks chemistry goes against the bible as that is not true. Maybe he can say that for biology with Charles Dawrin's origin of species goes against that God created everything but saying chemistry goes against the bible is ludicrous. My pastor said these majors support very liberal views and agenda and don't let your children major in liberal arts and chemistry, biology, and physics. He said conservative= godly and liberal= going to hell. If your child doesn't major in computer science, engineering, math, nursing, education, information technology, or theology they are not a conservative. I thought this were some very ignorant views and found his assumptions to be very bias.
