The Background: My parents, both successful in their careers and educated at Howard and Spelman believe that they know everything. And me having the unfortunate "privilege" of being the first born child, my parents tend to use me as a trial and error. I am the first child to go to college (my younger sister starts school next year). With that in mind my parents disregard anything and everything that I say in regards to school "I don't know what I am talking about" "listen to your parents we know what's best". Which has brought me into the situation that I am in now.
Before School: I enjoy politics, and want to attend Law School. If I had it my way, I would have been an English major and Political Science minor. THAT WAS MY PLAN. Of course when I presented that to my parents, I was told that was ridiculous "how would I pay for that" "YOU go to LAW SCHOOL? No, you need to be practical." So, I reluctantly after being pressured and pushed became a marketing minor.
Present Day: At first, Microeconomics wasn't that bad, I was keeping up with the readings, I was trying to find something interesting about the class. Then I gave up, I realized it was harder than what I thought it was going to be, I abhor graphs, the class makes no sense to me because in reality, I can't stand it. It SUCKS and now I am stuck in a class that I hate, and will have a minor in a field I do NOT want to enter and I continue kicking myself for being 20 years old that can stand up for everything from voting rights to women's reproductive rights and I can't stand up for my own self against my own parents.
I don't want it to sound like my parents don't love me, because they do. And I know that they want what's best for me, I just wish that they could see that sometimes, their helping is severely hurting and the more they push plans about my life and school the harder I'm pulling and the more I am resenting.
I read this article and IMMEDIATELY thought of my own parents, does anyone else think that there parents love does more harm than good? Any thoughts on how I should address my parents about the situation? I am open to ideas. http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/02/living/cnn-parents-helicopter-parenting-job-search/index.html
It's hard, especially if parents are helping pay for college and therefore feel they have a right to determine how their money is spent...by picking your classes for you.
ReplyDeleteWhat if you showed your parents articles or research that argues that TODAY, a college major isn't very important? A major in business is considered "practical," but it doesn't mean an automatic job; employers are more interested in actual skills rather than what's listed on your diploma. Forbes comments that studying business is a waste of time in a lot of ways (http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/08/22/college-majors/) and CBS News has plenty of reasons why majoring in business isn't a great way to get into business (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37244200/8-reasons-not-to-get-a-business-degree/).
In other words, the most practical way to land a "business" job may just be majoring in English and minoring in Political Science, to get the strong reading, writing, and critical thinking skills that companies want!