Re: kids, college, etc. - not panc related

[Guest guest]

Suzy,

When Nikki first said she wanted to major in theatre I really fretted over it.

There are just not a lot of things to with a degree in theatre in the state of

Alabama! After she and I had several arguements and I saw that I was only

making things harder for both of us, I just put it in God's hands. I had to

remind myself that many times it is simply having the degree that gets you in

the door and it doesn't always matter what you majored in. For Nikki, her

theatre class was the one she made a D in the first semester. That was enough

to convince her that majoring in theatre was not for her. She then changed to

communications. I still didn't know what she could do with that degree, but I

figured that good communication skills are a plus in any line of work. Later

she ended up changing her major to English, which is her real love. She then

decided that she would really like to teach. She considered changing to

elementary education or perhaps secondary education with an English/language

arts concentration. However, she ended up finding out that she could actually

go ahead and get her bachelor's in English, and then get a master's in secondary

education in less time than it would take for her to get a bachelor's in

education. She will be certified to teach 7th - 12th grade English, drama,

speech, language arts, etc. Teaching jobs are hard to come by in the area of

Alabama, so again I worry that she'll have problems finding a job teaching.

However, I'm sure it will all work out in the end. My undergrad degree is in

secondary education/math. They laid off a lot of teachers the year I graduated

from college. I ended up getting a job with the government and worked as a

systems analyst for over 11 years until I had to go on disability retirement in

March 2003. I loved my job and it was definitely more financially lucrative

than a teaching job would have been. Many of the things I learned in college

were beneficial on my job even though my degree was pretty far off from the

career I ended up having.

The thing is that often it is just having that 'piece of paper' (degree) that

opens doors for jobs that would otherwise be closed. You may end up doing

something that you never thought you'd even consider. Often times, you might

end up loving the job even though it wasn't at all what you thought you wanted

to do. Most days I am able to remind myself of that with Nikki, , and

my stepdaughter, . However, I am a mom and part of being a mom is

worrying that your kids will have things really tough for them. We all want our

kids to be financially secure and have a career that they are happy with.

By the way, it wasn't until after I got my bachelor's degree that I ever went on

a job interview that I was not hired for the job. It was very upsetting to know

that I had spent 4 years of my life in college, had student loans to pay back,

and I was having trouble finding a job. The thing is that once you have a

degree, you are typically competing for jobs in a different category - jobs that

have a higher pay, more benefits, etc. My father gave me some words of wisdom

that have stuck with me and I have shared with my kids. He told me that I was

going to have to patient and that I should not expect to find that 'wonderful

job' right away. He also said

'a college degree will open doors for you that would otherwise be closed. the

degree will get you the interview, but you must be able to sell yourself to get

the job. you must also understand that just because you have a college degree,

it doesn't mean that you will walk in the door to a new job and begin using your

new found knowledge right away. in the beginning, you will most likely be given

the tasks that are mundane, boring, and that no one else wants to do. accept

any and all of those tasks with a good attitude. work as hard at the mundane

and boring tasks as you worked on your most difficult college assignment. in

time you will be given more interesting and challenging tasks. always remember

that succeeding in the business world is about 90% attitude. if you always have

a good attitude, you will most likely go very far.'

It's not always easy to have a good attitude, but it is certainly important. I

have no doubt that both your sons, my daughters, and my son-in-law will all do

just fine.

W

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