Reply to Photo essay -- living with debt in America

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[quote=Anonymous]I think a lot of this comes down to whether kids go to college to learn things that interest them vs. graduate with a career.

In my (Asian) household, it was made 100% clear from a young age that you'd go to an ivy/top 10 undergrad + professional school -- and bc that would be a financial sacrifice for you and your parents (they paid most of it but I have loans too) -- you would 100% be going there to prepare yourself for a career. The career options were -- investment banking/consulting; law -- corporate/biglaw, not being a public defender; medicine; dentistry; and if you turned out not to be a strong student -- you also had the options of accounting and/or pharmacy. Most Asian households are very pro engineering, and in retrospect if us kids wants to pursue it, our parents would have been ok with it but my dad was an engineer his whole life and saw first hand how quickly and easily U.S. companies can outsource jobs to China or India or anywhere where students have strong math skills; so he was against engineering where layoffs can be fairly continuous and you're constantly looking to make sure your next gig is lined up.

Now my American friends thought my parents were ridiculous in demanding that we not study history or English or whatever bc it doesn't pay, and I 100% agree with them and will be pushing my kids in the same directions; frankly if they find a true passion for philosophy, I see nothing wrong with a philosophy minor if it's tacked on to a finance major. For everyone on here saying liberal arts teaches you critical thinking -- I get it but once those 4 yrs are over, then you have to go out there and convince the mortgage company or the utility or whoever why you really want to be an associate in their corporate finance department -- bc chances are you are not going to get a job where you're analyzing Shakespeare all day, you will have to carve out a "corporate" path with a salary, benefits, and 401k. Much easier if you start out with a finance major and an MBA from Stanford -- no need to convince anyone that you really WANT to be in that field.

And for everyone who says -- I want my kids to do what makes them happy. Kids have no idea what they want. In Asian households, education and professions are talked about since elementary schools and it's very clear that doctor/lawyer >>>> junior high science teacher. With that kind of thinking in their ear since age 10, it's no wonder that when they get to 12th grade, these kids themselves seek out the top physics program or finance program or whatever -- it becomes what THEY want.[/quote]

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