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My daughter is a junior and she will be with merit scholarship (at least semi-finalist). I know it is weird to say but I don't like her desire to be an English major. Although she will have to live her life, as a dad, I have always hoped her to be in the area of science or medical professions.
She may start college with undecided major and would like to see if English can be her passion for life. I don't see anything wrong in her decision. However, it is also very very true that I feel very disappointed and uncomfortable to see her movement.
Maybe I can understand far less about what will happen if she will major in English than other scientific fields that I might know better. How would you think and behave in the case like mine?
My daughter is a junior and she will be with merit scholarship (at least semi-finalist). I know it is weird to say but I don't like her desire to be an English major. Although she will have to live her life, as a dad, I have always hoped her to be in the area of science or medical professions. How would you think and behave in the case like mine?
I would support her decision to be an English major and say nothing about what you want her to do unless she asks. It's her life, Dad, not yours. She's a big girl now -- let go of the strings.
And let me turn the tables on you: how would you feel, Mr. science/medical guy, if you were pushed to quit the field you liked and instead urged to become a professional sculptor or musician? My guess is that you'd rightly resist.
If it makes you feel any better, you're in the same boat as about 75% of the parents out there. Get over it.
My daughter majored in English Lit with two minors. I was worried being both of us have medical degrees but she is now completing her masters in Library Science & Information Technology. This is a very good field to be in . Informational Techs are needed everywhere in medical & law libraries in particular. Currently she is at Duke working & comleting her internship. I think most likely she will be steered towards a masters with that degree or she will teach. Just my two cents!
I think it's a big mistake, as do you, but alas what can you do? Pushing her one way is a no-win move. It sucks, but you can only sit back and watch, and give her your opinions when it comes up.
You can try to defend it as an intellectual endeavor, but it's useless and been beaten to death everywhere.. It's a joke; it's unserious; it's majoring in what is effectively an unemployable labyrinth of competition from all sides; it's ungodly easy; it requires little intelligence, etc.
You can make something of yourself with an English degree, but you can make something of yourself with a GED, too. Just the general incidental intelligence gained by majoring in a hard science-heavy curriculum is completely unattainable in regurgitating the finer points of Catcher in the Rye, or whatever it is.
Again, I understand your disappointment, but I don't see what you can do. Sorry.
I knew there are not much I can do with this. I will not and don't like to force her to do something she does not want. However, I will provide her of some opinion to help her to select her major.
She feels English can be her major but she is not sure at all. Certainly, it is not easy to make a decision that can have a big impact on her life at only 17.
She must make her own decision but, I believe, she needs to keep open-minded toward advices and recommendations from parents, teachers, friends and relatives.
Just like any other decision we make in our lives, we had to, have to and will have to make difficult decisions based on limited time, experience and information. Once after making a decision, we have to live it for a while or forever. Sometimes, you can make changes and sometimes you cannot or simply don't change for any reasons, all of which will cost something from your life.
Good decision making always include how you can handle what you don't know about.
You can try to defend it as an intellectual endeavor, but it's useless and been beaten to death everywhere.. It's a joke; it's unserious; it's majoring in what is effectively an unemployable labyrinth of competition from all sides; it's ungodly easy; it requires little intelligence, etc.
My daughter is a junior and she will be with merit scholarship (at least semi-finalist). I know it is weird to say but I don't like her desire to be an English major. Although she will have to live her life, as a dad, I have always hoped her to be in the area of science or medical professions.
She may start college with undecided major and would like to see if English can be her passion for life. I don't see anything wrong in her decision. However, it is also very very true that I feel very disappointed and uncomfortable to see her movement.
Maybe I can understand far less about what will happen if she will major in English than other scientific fields that I might know better. How would you think and behave in the case like mine?
I am an English major. Unless she wants to teach, or has aspirations of being an author, I strongly recommend NOT being an English major. Having good grammar does not count for much in life. Really, I see people around me, with poor grammar skills, making a great deal more money than I do because they have a more marketable degree.
If she is set on English (God, forbid), then I would strongly encourage her to pick up a SKILL along the way, preferably something in the medical field like Occupational Therapy, or something that will enable her to actually EARN A LIVING that pays more than $10 per hour.
She must make her own decision but, I believe, she needs to keep open-minded toward advice and recommendations from parents, teachers, friends and relatives.
Sure, but advice and recommendations are different than exhortation and insistence. And advice is typically most valued (and, hence, followed) when it is requested rather than unsolicited.
The pursuit of a university degree is much, much more than acquiring a marketable skill that will lead to employment. Particularly for young people right out of high school, it is a process of social learning, self-discovery, and experimentation (on top of academics and professional preparation).
Older adults often lose sight of this because (if they're lucky) they already went through this process at some point in their life and have typically reached a point of life satisfaction and/or awareness (or begrudging acceptance, as the case may be) that eludes young folks. Or, if they're unlucky (or incurious), they never went through a developmental process of self-examination and discovery and live, in the words of Socrates, an unexamined life.
Botoom line: give your English major the liberty to examine her life on her terms. It will be one of the greatest life gifts you could give.
Bad doctors are the ones forced into a pre-med track by their parents. Do you really want to push your daughter through 8 years of hell so that you can say she's a doctor?
My friends with English degrees went into business, teaching, law school, not-profit work, and a few aced the MCATS and went to medical school. If your daughter is enjoying college and her classes, she is more likely to do well and find a vocation she enjoys. Money isn't everything- as long as she develops strong communication skills, she will be able to get some sort of job. One of my good friends is a teacher and while she doesn't make a lot of money, she loves her job. That is more important that being overworked in a job you don't want to do.
If she's going to be an English major, make sure she goes to a good school. A degree from a school with a good reputation will take her far.
This comes from a theater/geology major who's made a pretty rewarding career out of following her dream.
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