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Can You Teach Your Kids to Teach Themselves?
We're convinced aim of education should be to help the student learn how to learn. How do you pull this off, especially in a homeschooling environment? How do you raise a self-taught student who can excel in college and life?
Fred Ray Lybrand
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5 College Majors that are Useless . . .
A recent article slammed a few majors as being useless degrees. The next two links will take you to the article and a thoughtful challenge.
The Article
5 Useless College Majors – Bright Futura
www.brightfutura.com1/19/12
Useless College Majors. By Terence Loose at Yahoo. If you’re considering going back to school in hopes that you’ll graduate to more opportunities, there …
The Challenge
Yahoo’s ‘College Majors That Are Useless’… Really?
I have a bit of a different take coming from my experience with three college kids (and two on the way), along with Jody (Masters degree) and my own (Doctorate) taste of education.
My son Tripp has a degree in Studio Art from the University of Texas in Austin. He is currently a consultant to a governmental policy think tank, employed to convert research into a systems analysis (uses a program called Mathematica).
HUH? Art to Systems?
Well, sure! Is the point to get a degree or get educated? I’m convinced it is to get educated. Remember, education is the acquisition of the utilization of knowledge…and, once you know how to learn, you can learn anything.
Of course, some degrees are not as immediately employable as others, but the last time I checked, around 85% of graduates are no longer in their ‘field of study’ ten years after graduation!
If the real value is in learning how to learn, then don’t you think motivation and effort will make a difference? Every student who studies a major she hates (and is likely not designed for) will probably not do well. I’ll take a student who loved his subject and produced results over a student who muddled through in a ‘good’ major. The reason is that after it is all said and done…a skill(s) remains. It is that skill that is employable (a good attitude helps too) since almost every job requires much training AFTER getting hired.
Surely we can notice that no one leaves college fully equipped to do any well paying job…no, no one.
If you pay attention life will learn you a thing or two (sorry…grew up in Alabama 😉 Specifically, life will learn you that you do not know the future. Why not do well with what you enjoy and see what God might blossom over time?
And, Mom and Dad…why not cheer for your kid’s pursuit of learning…wherever it may lead?
They will love you for it!
Fred Lybrand
Leave your thoughts below 🙂
