Posted on 05/27/2011 3:04:44 PM PDT by NYer
The other day I ran into an old coworker from my career days, and when it came up that I’ve permanently ditched cubicle life to stay home and raise my gazillion kids, he asked bluntly, “Don’t you feel like you’re wasting your education?”
I think we were both surprised when my answer was: “Actually ... yes.”
I had been prepared to launch into a lecture about how my roles as homeschooler and household manager challenge me intellectually, but when I considered whether I ever use the knowledge I gained in my four (okay, four and a half) years in college, I realized that the answer was no. But the problem isn’t with my vocation; it’s with my education.
My degree is in Advertising, with a focus on interactive media. In my senior-level classes, we created websites for local businesses, analyzed marketing campaigns, studied successful advertising strategies from famous businesses, and so on. Of course I took classes in history, literature, and other liberal arts in my first two years, but I saw them as little more than stepping stones toward getting a degree that would ensure that I had a good career.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
A real mother?? try a half mill a year!! if you had to pay them for their worth and time,of course there are the cowbirds who create nothing but little monsters, for society and deserve nothing.
ping for later
Not wasted if they use that education to home-school their kids, rescuing them from public school system.
I would say not any more wasted than most people with liberal arts degrees. One of my sons has a BA and MA in history. He’s got a great job, but it doesn’t relate to history in any way.
I don’t think any education, except for something really stupid like the Exaltation of Communism 101, is a total waste.
The question more to the point is: is it worth it?
If you spent $100,000 on a four year degree and did not use it, I think it was a waste in hindsight.
However it is hard to know whether you are going to need to “use” it or not.
You can competently home school your kids through high school if you have a high school education yourself.
Totally agree with you. I was blessed enough to stay home with both my children. Priceless. You get what you give in life. They have grown into the most responsible, considerate, lovable young adults you would every want to meet. Surprise me every day with their caring and loving souls. Since I was a at-home mom I was active in many, many of their school activities. It was a first hand insight into the behaviors of other children. You could immediately pick the children out whose parents worked. The security of our parents is something that is breaded in us. Even as we get older our parents become our anchors, our security. As young children that feeling is only intensified. I believe children act out with anxiety when their parents work. Some going to complete strangers homes to be babysat. Would you leave the keys of your car to someone you had never met to make a few dollars? I doubt it. My Dad, God bless his soul, always would say when he would hear of parents not acting like parents, children never ask to be brought here we bring you into this world you are our responsibility no one else’s. And that is so true. Thank God that he gave you his best gift and treasure it every day.
Whether any degree is a waste does not depend on whether you use it in your work. If that is what the degree is for, then that makes college no more than a trade school. A college degree is supposed to show that you have learned how to think, how to teach yourself. It also means that you have acquired certain skills, like reasoning and writing, and that you have gained a knowledge of Western civilization: its art, music, science, literature, languages, history, philosophy, architecture. If you have used your four years well you will have acquired the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of 2500 years of human effort in the West, and will be a torchbearer, someone who can pass that knowledge on again to future generations. When you can say this, then a six-figure tab is not too much to pay (though indeed a lot of this can be acquired cheaply or free by reading books and finding a wise and kind mentor).
Advertising? Eh.
“Totally agree with you. I was blessed enough to stay home with both my children. Priceless. You get what you give in life. They have grown into the most responsible, considerate, lovable young adults you would every want to meet. Surprise me every day with their caring and loving souls. Since I was a at-home mom I was active in many, many of their school activities. It was a first hand insight into the behaviors of other children. You could immediately pick the children out whose parents worked. The security of our parents is something that is breaded in us. Even as we get older our parents become our anchors, our security. As young children that feeling is only intensified. I believe children act out with anxiety when their parents work. Some going to complete strangers homes to be babysat. Would you leave the keys of your car to someone you had never met to make a few dollars? I doubt it. My Dad, God bless his soul, always would say when he would hear of parents not acting like parents, children never ask to be brought here we bring you into this world you are our responsibility no one else’s. And that is so true. Thank God that he gave you his best gift and treasure it every day.”
Nice Post, thank you.
I used every bit of my college education in raising my kids and trying to be the best mother I could be. It took all my skills and all my intelligence. It took every ounce of my faith too.
Some time ago I seem to receive an eternal revelation about my accountibility as a father and a husband from this verse:
“If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”(1 Timothy 5:8)
Now that verse spoke to me also about the things of the Spirit; such pray with my wife and children, read and teach them God’s Holy Word, and the love of God.
Just recently it seemed the Spirit seemed to say about the words of the Lord:”Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:19) That it is not just Gold, silver and pearls, etc. but people, your friends, your neighbors, and especially you children.
Don’t we just love it that our God and Saviour has given us these options. Remember we have choices to choose the best, for eternity!
The article needs to clarify - wasted on “who?” Perhaps the mother, in terms of career advancement. However, definitely NOT wasted on the children. Having more intelligent parents, and their mother in particular if she’s with them continuously, provides them with greater insight, better guidance, improved vocabulary and communications skills, etc. This will serve them very well as they grow up, and provide them a competitive advantage.
**But the problem isn’t with my vocation; it’s with my education**
Domestic Engineers require majors in business administration, electricity, education, psychology, counseling, construction, plumbing and finance, just to name a few!
LOL! Tongue in cheek here, but so true!
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