Reply to Parents who don't allow their kids to major in liberal arts

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Parents who don't allow their kids to major in liberal arts"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I posted this once a few months ago but I'll post it again. DS did get into the SLAC of his choice - that's the only thing that's changed.

My son is interested in attending a SLAC, he's applied ED to a well-regarded (at least on DCUM) and hopefully he will get in.

I'm being brutally honest and telling you all something that I probably wouldn't admit to in person.

I have a science degree. In fact, I have earned a BS, MS and Doctorate in my field from a great academic institution, state university, tops in my field, etc. I'm regarded as being very smart, able to write well, etc. I have risen to the very top of my profession and earn about 500K per year.

But I when I'm around the liberal arts folks, I feel dumb. I"m not well rounded, I am not as mentally nimble, not as well written or spoken. My program did not allow for courses considered to be "fluff." Electives were from a list, core courses were from a list that were approved by the dept for my major. I worked my ass off to learn how to write, I did learn how to write for publication in grad school and of course for my PhD but scientific writing is different - I basically stink at other styles of writing.

So while I'm very knowledgeable in my field and intelligent, I'm not well-educated and I really regret not having a broader depth of knowledge, a stronger vocabulary, higher order critical thinking, the ability to integrate knowledge from various disciplines, etc.

I would love to engage on the Political forum (the reasonably intelligent posts, not the partisan diatribe crap) but honestly I would just get destroyed by some philosophy major. So, I lurk and basically keep my mouth shut.

Touring SLACs with my son, I fell in love and wish I had the opportunity to not just go to college to get a career, but to go to college for an education. I could still have my career.

So, I will encourage my kids to go the SLAC route, pick an interesting major and quite honestly, if they need another year or two to gain marketable skills I'm fine with helping them out. I want them to take this chance of a lifetime to become a well-rounded person.

So damn the graphs and the articles and the experts. I want my kids to be educated first, then we will work on a career. [/quote]

You do realize that if you had not gone to college to "get a career", you would not be earning $500,000 and in no position to send your son to a $$$ SLAC so that he could just focus on getting an education?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics