I'm going to let you in on a little secret.
Daddy never went to college and I never
graduated.
I spent 3 years in college without anywhere near the correct credits for a
degree, that's what happens when you change your major 3 times.
I would like our kids to go
to college, but ONLY if they know for sure what they want to do!
I
spent one year working towards my Human Services/Counseling degree
before realizing I would be burned out in a year. Then I started on my
History degree with Teacher Licensesure to teach High School History.
Surprise, surprise, I quickly realized that me and school bureaucracy
would not mix well. I spent one more year just taking classes before I
decided to take a break to figure myself out first. Then I met Daddy and
after a whirlwind romance, got married and started working at a bank, which I loved! I know now
that if I do end up going back to school I would get my degree in
Accounting or Business Administration. Once my kids graduate I plan on
going back to work in a bank or accounts payable office. At 16 when I
started college I never would have dreamed that that would be the right
job for me. It sounded so boring, but at 16 I didn't really know myself
yet. My quirk of alphabetizing everything and enjoying doing my taxes
didn't equal into a job and something I would want to do with my life.
My point is that I don't really agree
with kids finishing high school and heading off for college without a
firm grasp of the real world and themselves. It's too easy to incrue
40k in student loans and then realize that you dislike what you are
doing and you just want to stay home with your kids. Or that you now
have 100k in debt and you HATE being a lawyer! I know many people argue
that any degree is better then no degree, but what if you get a blanket
degree in English and then later realize you want to be an Occupational
Therapist? You have more school now ... It's such a big decision and
it's a hard one to put on the shoulders of every 17/18 year old who is
still dazzled by the world around them. I wish there was a better way.
My husband and I have decided that 25 is the age most people have themselves pretty much sorted out. For us, those years between high school and 25 were all about transition and we see that similarity in the lives of so many others. We want to help our kids with college and encourage them to go, but we are also holding their savings accts. until they reach 25 when they will more likely have themselves "figured out" and will be able to more wisely decide what to do with whatever amt. is in those accts. by the time they reach maturity. Great post! Oh, and when I attended college, which I didn't finish, we had in our culinary program, an archeologist, several nurses, homemakers with grown children, and even an heiress who daily parked her red luxury vehicle in the fire zone because it was more convenient than driving around and around for an hour waiting for an open space. I was 23 and one of the youngest in my group. I learned a lot about life from those non-traditional students.
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