It is that time of the year again where I get the urge to
state some truths about a college education. My husband and I have college
educations, as of Friday our daughter will have a college education, and I
would really like for our son to have a college education some day. My husband has always and still works in the
same field as his degree: Wildlife Biology. I do not know the statistics on
this, but I would bet a surprisingly small percentage of people manage to keep
their college major and their subsequent careers on the same track throughout
their careers. I have done work that is traditionally associated with my
degrees, but I have spent more years on work that has no apparent relation to
my field of study. We shall see where our daughter’s career takes her.
Meanwhile, we have been advising our son to go to college, if nothing else, to
develop the muscles between his ears.
There are a lot of convictions people have about a college
education that are not exactly true. Like “if you can just get a college
degree, you will always have a good-paying job.” I saw on the news the other
day that over forty percent of people who finished college within the past two
years are underemployed—meaning that they are in a job that does not require a
degree. Only fifteen percent of these
graduates thought they would be making less than $25,000 per year with a
degree, but thirty percent of them are making that much or less. Of the
underemployed graduates, most said they wish they had majored in something
different and/or they would need a graduate degree in order to be competitive
in the workplace. A certain few
undergraduate degrees are highly employable and highly paid, but most of them
are not…..but it still costs the same to get the degree.
 |
| The hunting dentist, Zack, along with his wife, Amanda, and our new graduate, Shelby |
Another is “do what you love and you will always find
success.” I suppose that could be true as long as you are not speaking of
financial success. Often the best idea is to get your degree in an area where
you can be satisfied with your professional life and make enough money to
support doing what you love in your off time. We have a friend who is a
dentist, but what he loves is hunting. His plan is to be able to AFFORD to hunt
by working on teeth.
Another idea is that you need to have a degree from a
“major” university to be employable. I put that in quotes because most people
seem to think the “major” thing is related to the notoriety of the football
team or the size of the student body than by any academic measures of
major-ness. It is more important for each student to find a college that is a
good fit for their personality and that has a good reputation in their field of
study. A college can be world-class in one area of study and quite Mickey Mouse
in another. No matter how large or how
high-profile your college is, if you choose the wrong major or manage to keep a
steady low-C average, you are going to have a hard time with your employment
search.
One more—“get an education so you won’t have to work as hard
as your parents did.” This one makes me laugh out loud! I will respond to that
one with a quote attributed to Thomas Edison: “Success is ten percent
inspiration and ninety percent perspiration.” The cold, hard truth is success
is hard work, even for college graduates. Yes, having a degree could possibly
enable you to work in air conditioning, but you will still have to work hard
and put in a lot of hours if you want to have success.
No comments:
Post a Comment