I should not watch a Nova on Elsa the lioness (Born Free fame) when I know I'm emotionally wobbly. I need to bwow my nobe.

When I talked to Taylor about college, I emphasized that while with her plans, major does matter, and mastering certain subjects is an absolute must (she wants to go to med school) the most important thing she'd learn is HOW to learn and discipline. So she needed to engage even that stupid art history class* taken for an arts requirement, even if she didn't care; she would learn how to act as if she cared. And that is a bullshit skill useful in being a grownup.

I think she heard me. She's taking classes this summer, and we've had one Come To Jesus conversation about an incident she posted to fb that I was all OH HONEY, BABY GIRL, DUMBASS! WE'RE ON TO YOU, YOU ARE FOOLING NO ONE...and also, that's jerky, think about it. It was so classic teenager, I wasn't shocked, just....oh, teenagers. Think they know everything. She was so embarrassed and ashamed when I called her on it, not for getting caught, but once she realized how she'd presented herself in the described incident. Also, she learned to use privacy settings. And so far, I don't think I've been put outside the fence. There's still enough I'm seeing that indicates she's still trusting me;)

*= no offense meant, it was an example a class I did have to take my senior year when I was consumed with thesis. I was a physics (thesis) and polisci major. So it was pretty low priority and resented the time it required of me. And I'd maxxed out on museums and art in Prague, so I was exasperated with it most of the time. But I still wrote damned persuasive papers (honing my skills in research and writing further,) and learned that what moves me in art is generally that which inspires me to touch- I'm tactile with art, even if it is a photo, it's the suggestion of texture and movement that engage me as much as the subject. So I learned something about me! I found a way to make the research more interesting to me by delving into the socio-political of the art topic, so learned a bit there too, both in content and how to repurpose the odious;)

OH HONEY, BABY GIRL, DUMBASS! WE'RE ON TO YOU, YOU ARE FOOLING NO ONE...

I say this all the damn time.

I'm sure you do. I think every-thinking-one who has been let into a teen's life must...

Hah. I majored in chemistry, and quickly realized I didn't want to stick with that, but it was too late to change my major and still graduate on time! And while my parents expected college of us, they also had no plans to pay for more than 4 years, since they were barely able to pay what the school thought they should for those 4 years.

And while being a science major kinda got me my job/career, I don't actually use any of it on a regular basis. I would've been better off getting a nursing degree, for this job. Or bio. I did not take any bio in college.

I can no longer do integrals (math minor!) or calculate the trajectory of a dead horse, much less e&m or god forbid thermo or quantum. Haven't really touched on galaxy age composition since 1997. I retain most of the precalc math of high school, which occasionally comes in handy, like when calculating the amount of mulch I need for the spot between the sidewalks or potting soil for flowerpots. But I can write database queries like no one's business! I learned that on the job.

As a middle school Science teacher, I am certainly not getting the ROI I probably should be getting from four years at a fancy school and one more at a different fancy school, but I was lucky in my parents for the first four and got the masters paid for by by my later Educational Martyrdom (gotta love those programs) so have no debt. We are paying off my wife's, but it is manageable.

And though I could probably have gotten this job eventually with less fancy and expensive education, I would not be nearly as good at it. College was amazing for all my brains.

Gah. It's never a good idea to just take a quick look at work e-mail when I'm at home, is it? Learn this lesson, self.

Step away, -t, step away.

I may not be getting a good ROI for my late in life degree, but my quality of life is better. I wouldn't have been able to get my current job which may not pay me fantastically more than what I was earning pre-degree. But moving the Colorado for this job makes the financial pain a bit less painful.

Man, if i could get a job doing integrals I'd be pretty happy. Though it's really basic algebra and linear algebra that I sometimes do for fun. They sometimes come up in my job by way of abusing Excel, but never for very long.

And I remember some thermo. Well, the ideal gas law, I remember the hell out of that.

Among the things I'm interested in is what kind of educational interventions can help students in that socioeconomic bracket. In my view I think good mentoring programs with professionals who originally were in those backgrounds can help students see future employment possibilities in a variety of majors. There are hundreds of careers most people have never heard of, but you don't get exposure to them by accident.

le nubian, I have no idea about what interventions can help. I am not even sure about mentoring (we received a Gear Up grant and those kids had mentors for 7 years and the grad rate/college attendance rate/AP Pass rate was roughly the same as every other year, and dramatically lower than the Non-Gear-Up kids the year before). The one that sounds promising but not scalable is Blue Engine but that requires a buttload of money and a complete overhauling of the pedagogical approach of the classroom teacher.

Even though I'm a mostly useless English teacher, I was not an English major. I should be working in international something, as that was my degree and I passed the written portion of the foreign service exam. But blargh. I don't even have a foreign language under my belt anymore.

Amy, I didn't mean to imply that you should follow your dream and just study basketweaving (though I have done that and its pretty fun). It was more that this topic is one of larger general interest to me since it's a conversation I have with kids a lot. Also, when my former students tell me they are going to be an English major I sort of cringe. Which is wrong. There are plenty of English majors with real jobs. Anyhow, sorry, if I came across as assholey.