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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The play is to go to a school where it can be both. At a school like say Williams, you can major in virtually anything quantitative and, with good grades, get a job in banking; or major in virtually anything and get a job in consulting with good grades and internships.

But if you're at say Marymount, you don't necessarily have that luxury. You want to do nursing or business there.

[b]'Passion' is often code for nonprofit/academic work that pays cruddy. It should be treated with suspicion.[/b][/quote]

Yes for some. No for others.

As so many of the PPs have said, the purpose and opportunities of college depend a lot on the level of economic security a kid has going in to the experience.

For first-gen college students like OP's kid, yes, I agree - there's a big risk involved in pursuing a low-paying "passion" career, and it's smart to be suspicious (or at least to consider it with a critical eye.) The sad truth is that it's very difficult to build financial security from that starting point. Better to be practical and use college as a vehicle for finding a more secure and higher-paying career while pursuing "passion" interests on the side, if possible.

However . . .

The equation can and arguably should be different for kids who enter college with a high level of financial security.

For kids who are (a) truly interested in nonprofit or academic work; and (b) wealthy enough to support themselves by other means (family support / generational wealth), I'd argue that they absolutely should pursue their passion - both for their own sake and for the sake of society.

On the societal side, it benefits EVERYONE if wealthy people who are truly interested in nonprofit or academic work use their time and talent for that purpose. There's tremendous need in our society (nonprofit) and also tremendous opportunties for societal improvements via research and education (academics). Both invole slow and painstaking work, a well as intellectual challenges on multiple fronts. But the potential rewards are huge (personal satisfaction + societal impact).

IMHO, we should ENCOURAGE that, rather than continue to incentivize and steer our highly resourced (i.e. wealthy/privileged) kids towards finance, tech, and consulting jobs that primarily benefit the wealthiest in our society. (If we've learned anything at this point, it's that "trickle down economics" was a sham.)

There's a recent student opinion piece in the Duke newspaper on the topic: https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/why-arent-we-all-excited-to-do-service-20251001

As well as a new and thought-provoking book that pushes the discussion further: https://www.amazon.com/Moral-Ambition-Wasting-Talent-Difference/dp/031658035X [/quote]

This is BS. What you're saying perpetuates the hegemony that exists in society. It leads to the white knighting of everything where the decision makers, who are wealthy and privileged and white, purport to know better than the people of color that are actually experiencing the hardships. It's condescension at its finest. It's why there are barriers to entry for the underclass who can't move up in life because those next positions are alrwasy occupied by wealthy people who don't need the small paycheck (for them), which is a relatively bigger amount for poor people.[/quote]

Again, yes and no.

Yes. 100% agree with your point. DH and I talk about it often, and it disturbs us both. A LOT. In no way do we think that wealthy, privileged, or white people are better suited to make decisions for society. Not at all.

For me, this comes from a personal and practical place. My parents were both first-gen college students who worked full-time to get themselves through college, lifting themselves (and therefore me and my kids) out of generational poverty.

According to them, the key to breaking the cycle of poverty was prioritizing financial security until they felt their "financial oxygen mask" was securely afixed. (i.e. make sure you can breathe before helping others put on their own masks). This took them decades to achieve - by focusing on the practical challenges of paying off (and then avoiding) unwise debt, affording a home in a safe area with decent public schools, and saving for their own kids' college educations.

They were successful at this beyond their wildest dreams, but they were also very clear with us along the way about the tradeoffs involved. They viewed low-paying work as extremely risky and unwise until later in their lives, when they were financially secure. Though they did volunteer their time quite a bit along the way - everything from church service projects and committees to senior citizen centers to community reading initiatives etc.

All that said, I'm VERY open and eager to hear more about your POV on this. (Maybe it's worth starting a new thread rather than derailing this one?)

Maybe the idea of focusing first on your own financial security is not the right approach for everyone. But based on my parents' example and advice, if I were in their shoes, I'd have done it the same way. And if my kids were entering college in that position (without a secure economic foundation), I would give them the same counsel. ESPECIALLY in the current political climate, where our "leaders" are dismantling every proven support for students and families who are working towards financial security.

But again, maybe my perspective is overly skewed by my parents' path (and their stern advice about the same.) Thankfully, this was not my life path, nor is it my kids' path. So we've taken a much broader view of both education and career "success," including societal impact.  I wish more families with financial security would do the same. And I'd love to hear advice on how under-resourced college students should think about this. Especially in a world where the tradeoffs are more stark (i.e. the Trump administration cutting funding for or politicizing public service programs like AmeriCorps and the Truman Fellowship: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/truman-scholarship-public-service-republicans-trump/) [/quote]

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