Why would non-one percent families let their kids major in the humanities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

[Anonymous]

To become educated. Period. College is mot vocational school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, there are not “plenty of other paths” to UMC besides STEM. There’s big law and finance and upper admin at an NPO or F500, most of which require connections.

OMG. I guess if you consider DCUM UMC, which is a $500k HHI. But I know loads of dual public school teacher couples with $190k+ HHI.

I’m in the UMC for sure, maybe not by DCUM standards but my HHI is 230k in a cheaper city than DC. Both DH and I have zero connections and we both have social science degrees. Not lawyers, not finance, not Fortune 500 company employees.

Perfectly content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

Who do you propose teach future generations?

[Anonymous]

My DH & I are both history majors. I have a social science Ph.D. and he has a B.A. Our HHI is $550,000. The idea that STEM is the only way forward is just ludicrous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

This was and is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

This was and is true.

+1 grew up middle class in family that had no discretionary funds but we had a house, food, and clothing (mostly hand-me-downs), even if we never traveled or ate at restaurants. Majored in humanities now with much higher standard of living than when I was a child. My salary is 120k, spouse is 200k. Spouse was also humanities major. Neither of us work in STEM fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

Sorry, someone isn’t doomed to poverty because they didn’t have an internship or majored in humanities. If you graduate (most kids don’t graduate at all) with little or no debt and a good gpa, you’re already way ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

Sorry, someone isn’t doomed to poverty because they didn’t have an internship or majored in humanities. If you graduate (most kids don’t graduate at all) with little or no debt and a good gpa, you’re already way ahead.

Ha! Tell that to all the underemployed arts grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not everyone is motivated by money and greed.

This is a really bizarre question to me. A lot of people just want to enjoy their day-to-day life rather than build up a Scrooge McDuck pile of coins to swim in?

Haha, yeah I grew up not worried about money and followed a career I was passionate about. Huge regrets because in this day and age, a modest income consigns you to long commutes, substandard housing, and crummy schools. It’s great if you never plan to marry and have kids; maybe even okay if you marry someone with similar values, but find a DW who is content to live a simple life and doesn’t want kids, that’s a pretty narrow field. And I wanted kids, I just had no idea how expensive they were and neighborhoods with good schools are.

And you can say “move to X” where X is some random place not in a major city, well a) my passion career has no jobs there, I guess I could become a teacher eventually but likely will still be poor there 2) most cheap places, if you want good schools, housing has still gotten really really expensive over the last 10 years, even more so COVID era

I’m the PP you are responding to. Real estate is hot everywhere right now because of the historically low interest rate. But prior to that, you could buy a really nice, updated home with character in my area for ~ 300-400k. 250k if you were willing to do the updating yourself. New construction was running at around 400-500k. We live in a small city near the Finger Lakes in NY. Definitely possible for teachers, nurses, cops, firefighters, professors, social workers, doctors and lawyers with a lot of school debt, etc. etc. to live well here. The public schools are considered very good and it’s a nice area with lots of opportunities for outdoor recreation. Lakes, gorges, ski, etc. You are paying a premium to live in DC. Which is fine but realize it’s your choice and don’t complain about it. There are other nice places to live.

Teachers in rural areas make around $40k, so a $400k house is hardly affordable. Even a $250k fixer upper only works if you are handy; doing things wrong and having to hire someone to fix it is even more expensive.

Nurses I think can get to $80k, same with state college professors.

Now if you marry two professors, maybe they have a chance, but you better not marry a teacher or someone who’s wants to SAH.

I’m from a small town about two hours west of NYC—the most experienced teachers there make $90k+. Houses cost $200k for SFH.

+1

Teachers do well in NYS. Every state funds education differently. I'm the PP who lives near the Finger Lakes. Teachers with 20 years of experience definitely make over 100k in our area.

You won't get rich doing it but it's a good enough salary to have a nice, middle class existence where we live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

Sorry, someone isn’t doomed to poverty because they didn’t have an internship or majored in humanities. If you graduate (most kids don’t graduate at all) with little or no debt and a good gpa, you’re already way ahead.

Ha! Tell that to all the underemployed arts grads.

How do you define “arts”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

Not a boomer.

I would speculate that those 50% of kids on free and reduced lunch are not the kids of college grads with humanities degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pondering "social mobility" as the goal. Sounds weird to me, sounds like the entire plan is about leaving your roots in the dust--your family, people you grew up with. Assuming you grew up in comfortable surroundings with loving parents and friends and neighbors who were good to you, what's wrong with wanting to plant yourself in a similar life?

Sounds like you grew up in a wealthy family in a desirable metro area. Why would you assume the bolded?

DP. Do you think that only the wealthy in desirable areas are comfortable?!?!? Gah.

Pp is ridiculous.

I grew up with a humanities teacher dad and mom in health care in a middle sized city and we were absolutely comfortable.

So, number 1: most kids these days don’t grow up in comfortable surroundings — 50% of American children are in free/reduced lunch. And number 2, teachers are treated horribly nowadays:

https://time.com/magazine/us/5394910/september-24th-2018-vol-192-no-12-u-s/

I don’t know why, but for some reason, this website has been giving really bad, out of date advice for the past few months. From things like “high achieving kids don’t have internships during COVID!” to “you can major in the humanities from a middle class background and still make it!” the people posting here are mainly out of touch boomers.

Do we now all need to post our ages and family backgrounds to evaluate how seriously our comments should be taken?

There is ample evidence to support that most humanities majors do just fine. As well as evidence that STEM and finance graduates hardly ever become wealthy.

The important things are to avoid too much debt, be mindful of your career opportunities as you choose a major, and work hard. Be savvy, don't just assume that STEM/finance is your only way to have a comfortable life.