As college tuition rises so that few can shoulder the entire expense for their children, I realize how lucky I was to receive the gift of education from my parents, and for their forethought in starting us on the way to giving that same gift to our daughter. I still believe the best education is a broad one, not a narrowly-focused career path. That thinking has long gone out of fashion as risk-averse employers require ever more specific degrees, and graduates, saddled with debt, require well-paying jobs. My parents allowed me the luxury of a Liberal Arts education that many see as preparing for nothing, but, which, in fact, prepared me for everything by instilling a love of knowledge and life-long learning.
As my daughter approaches graduation with a degree in Art History, stressing over a career path, I’m confident she’ll cobble something together until she finds her path, probably attending grad school, maybe in her field, more likely in something different and more practical, like I did. Whatever she does she will apply the creativity and broad-mindedness her liberal education instilled in her. She takes it for granted now, as I did at her age. Today I realize what a rare and powerful gift my parents gave me and how fortunate I was to receive it.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
Higher education is so important...and so expensive today. My daughter's leaning toward and English major, so I'm in the happy boat with you. (Thankfully, we have TOPS here, which pays tuition for locals who maintain a high GPA.)
toward and English major,
...and hopefully she'd write the above as "...toward AN Engish major..." unlike her mother. ;)
Passing the gifts from generation to generation...beautiful.
And taking for granted is what we do when young, sometimes when "old" too -but, there comes the time when we think, "oh!" and it all becomes clear.
Post a Comment