On another note, today my phone rang and the display showed a number that was familiar, yet not in my contact list. My attention was strongly focused on playoff hockey, so I absentmindedly answered the call out of force of habit. Only as I said hello did I realize why the number was familiar. It was an extension from my alma mater; the kind that brings tidings of "how much money can you give". Clearly, since I'm unemployed, I knew that this poor student making minimum wage had no chance of converting me to meet her quota.
She was so nervous, but I had the utmost respect for her guts to make these cold calls. I can only imagine how it must feel to try and come up with idle small talk over and over again, before going in for the bank account. My real point here is that one thread of our conversation that got me thinking. Or, rather, it spurred a train of thought that I've had many times before. She brought up my degree in advertising and asked if I was using it in my career. Then inquired about how I had liked the program, adding that she had almost become an advertising major. She decided on speech pathology instead.
There is no clear similarity between the two. Odds are that she will not remember in two or three years why she chose one over the other. She may not even remember that she considered advertising. I can't help but think that if I were to be in the position of choosing a course of study now, after getting to know who I am and having some real world work experience, I likely would've chosen differently. She also told me that when I graduated, tuition rates were something like $265 per credit hour. Now students are paying $405 per credit hour. All of that money is going toward an education that they may or may not find relevant five years from now. They're declaring majors and taking classes in a subject matter that many of them chose somewhat subjectively. It could've been a hunch, perhaps the major a friend chose, or fulfillment of the expectations their parents set forth for them.
Don't get me wrong, I love learning and knowledge so much that I would go back to school tomorrow if it wasn't going to cost me anything. And I obviously understand that there are those among us who may have always known what they wanted to do in life, or felt a strong connection once they got to college. But I've also been around long enough to know that there are so many people who have no idea why they chose their major or have a degree collecting dust, because they have no intention to work in that field. I may or may not be on the path to becoming one of those people.
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