Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There are plenty lawyers, MBA's, physicians, dentists, pharmacists, accountants, and many other fields that were history majors in undergrad. I was double major, one of which was history, and I do think I learned some valuable research and writing skills studying history.
I think you need to realize it's his life to do what he wants, not yours. I had a friend who was worried about his son wanting to get in archeology, thinking he wouldn't be able to survive on what they make. He started out, first job out of college, working for a museum and making more than his dad was when he retired from his job. I let my sons decide what they wanted to do. They need to find something they're interested in, and enjoy doing, not just a job to provide a paycheck.
yes, there is a difference between being interested in a subject and wanting to major in it for a career path. History was the subject i was most interested in in school and college but i didn't make a career out of it. I would encourage him to look at something that is interesting to him on some level (maybe not the most interesting thing out there to him, but something he can study and not be bored to death) but that is also practical for a career.
If he is absolutely passionate about history and can see himself doing absolutely nothing else in life and can imagine nothing else as a career that would make life bearable, i would say go for it but he definitely should be ambitious and competitive, for it would be a difficult career to make a decent living in since as you stated teaching and writing books are about the only main things out there for that (museum curator, archivist are some other not so common things that come to mind; i'm sure there are more).
Would he have an interest in law? That would be something not directly related to history that would be a good career path for that major. For me i couldn't stand it even though i love history. So i would just discuss these options with him. Like i said for someone for whom history is as much life for them as the blood that runs through their veins and there would be nothing else that would make life bearable then i think dissuading them from pursuing this would not be the best thing for him. I would just make sure he is definitely sure this is what he wants and that he knows the career path ahead of him will most likely be challenging and competitive.
OP, historians can also be political analysts, they can be journalists, news copy writers and researchers, and as was already mentioned, lawyers. Today's news is tomorrow's "history", so there's definitely some overlap there, with news and politics. If he excels, he could snag a job in academia. I know there's a lot of competition for those jobs, which is why I said, "if he excels". He would need to stand out, have some outstanding, noteworthy published articles on his record, be articulate in interviews, and so forth, in order to get a tenure-track position. If he's even interested in that.
Or he may develop his own niche, as he follows his interests in that field, and they lead in some unforeseen direction.
or, he may decide in college to switch majors, or to add a major, doing a double-major, making him more marketable. You have no idea what might happen between now and then.
Are you the dad, who also posted a thread on whether your son should go to college, or learn a trade? Was that a different son, or am I confusing you with another member here?
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 11-27-2020 at 02:38 PM..
This may be, but since most "kids" are in the workforce (or trying to be) by about 22 when most graduate college, they don't have time to "find themselves" until they're 25, do they?
Do they now?
Yes it is in many cases. Again good decisions about that need to be looked at. Working at a Fast Food
will put these young kids among other young kids. But, if they can get a job where they are around other people of various ages doing different jobs, there they will have a chance to interact with those who aren't their parents and learn of their lives and backgrounds. This can play a big part of finding themselves.
But sitting by themselves in say a parking lot attendant's booth they may be far more limited.
There is something known as "ego involvement" and with parents it is often loving the kids too much to understand the kids point of view. Granted, they gave birth to their kids, nursed & nurtured them and knew them when they were helpless and knew nothing. Yet 15 years later some parents treat the kids like they are the same infant that they have to take every breath & step for. It's a common theme with parents that they cannot remove themselves from that role and allow their kids that room to, find themselves.
Speaking of my own case, At 17 I got a job in a supply warehouse. A few months later when I turned 18 I was "bonded" and placed on a delivery truck with a much older fellow and we drove thru the night delivering the manifest. In those times we talked of many things, but most intriguing to me was we spoke to each other as adult to adult, not child to parent. I worked this job the first couple of years of college. The next summer I worked as a steel worker with many
men of various trades. Had I only gone to college and been "mom's boy" I hate to think how I'd have wound up.
There I was able to utilize this fellows wisdom as a sounding board against my ideas ad views. Often kids with grand parents or a favorite uncle or aunt can get some of this type of counsel. But it played a big part in my building self confidence, and coming to know myself. Unfortunately my mom felt like she was losing control over me and wasn't too pleased. But as it was pointed out to me by some of my older coworkers, you are all she had up until the point I got this job. She had built too much of her world around me and being "mom". Without that and her trying to shepherd all of my activities, school work,
she felt like a widow. Who was actually paying for her doing that? I had never intended to be a "mommie's boy" and was feeling a bit suffocated by her so I found the job.
It was one of the best decisions of my young life to use the job to create space for myself to live and grow in. I don't regret it one bit. In time mom began taking some classes at college and started a newer healthier life for herself.
Sometimes an umbilical cord can seem like it turned into a "tentacle".
History id a fine undergrad degree if he intends to go onto a professional degree like education, law, business, etc. for graduate school.
Academia, on the other hand, is tough. Jobs in academia are great, but the competition is fierce and predicated as much on department politics as capability.
Intelligence analyst positions usually require that the candidate already has experience in the field. Even if it's not a "requirement," plenty of the other candidates will have that experience (and many of these positions will have a lot of applicants). If he's interested in intel, his best bet is to go into the military; few other places will take someone who has never done it before and train them from the ground up. Even better if he can also gain computer skills and at least one other language. There's a reason a friend in federal law enforcement once remarked to me that most intel analysts they'd met were former military; it's not just the veteran's preference thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jewel City Joe
K12144 wrote:
Do they now?
Yes it is in many cases. Again good decisions about that need to be looked at. Working at a Fast Food
will put these young kids among other young kids. But, if they can get a job where they are around other people of various ages doing different jobs, there they will have a chance to interact with those who aren't their parents and learn of their lives and backgrounds. This can play a big part of finding themselves.
But sitting by themselves in say a parking lot attendant's booth they may be far more limited.
There is something known as "ego involvement" and with parents it is often loving the kids too much to understand the kids point of view. Granted, they gave birth to their kids, nursed & nurtured them and knew them when they were helpless and knew nothing. Yet 15 years later some parents treat the kids like they are the same infant that they have to take every breath & step for. It's a common theme with parents that they cannot remove themselves from that role and allow their kids that room to, find themselves.
Speaking of my own case, At 17 I got a job in a supply warehouse. A few months later when I turned 18 I was "bonded" and placed on a delivery truck with a much older fellow and we drove thru the night delivering the manifest. In those times we talked of many things, but most intriguing to me was we spoke to each other as adult to adult, not child to parent. I worked this job the first couple of years of college. The next summer I worked as a steel worker with many
men of various trades. Had I only gone to college and been "mom's boy" I hate to think how I'd have wound up.
There I was able to utilize this fellows wisdom as a sounding board against my ideas ad views. Often kids with grand parents or a favorite uncle or aunt can get some of this type of counsel. But it played a big part in my building self confidence, and coming to know myself. Unfortunately my mom felt like she was losing control over me and wasn't too pleased. But as it was pointed out to me by some of my older coworkers, you are all she had up until the point I got this job. She had built too much of her world around me and being "mom". Without that and her trying to shepherd all of my activities, school work,
she felt like a widow. Who was actually paying for her doing that? I had never intended to be a "mommie's boy" and was feeling a bit suffocated by her so I found the job.
It was one of the best decisions of my young life to use the job to create space for myself to live and grow in. I don't regret it one bit. In time mom began taking some classes at college and started a newer healthier life for herself.
Sometimes an umbilical cord can seem like it turned into a "tentacle".
How did we go from the topic of a student's choice of major to overbearing parents? Nowhere did my post mention that.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
