I have noticed in the past 50 or so years that high school advisers, more and more, advise our kids to "follow your dream". This means that they should study what they "like" and take classes in college that they "like". Hidden in all this is the meaning of "like". What "like" really means is something that is easy for you or that gives you a lot of pleasure. Now, I have a very different take on the "follow your dream" concept.
It is a basic principle that if you want to get stronger, you need to do things that are difficult. Running up hill is better for you than running down hill. This concept applies to almost everything. If we ask, what is the objective of education including college, it has to be to make you "stronger". I see kids all the time who are good in sports or art who go to college to play sports or to take art classes. These are the "easiest" classes that they could take. If they take the "easiest" classes, how much stronger do you think those classes make them? Are you starting to follow this logic?
Now, look at college majors like the STEM 's. For most of our kids, these are very difficult classes, so they avoid them and take easy majors. They do end up spending their time and money, but get a college degree in the end. The question is, was all that time and expense worth it"? Are they now as strong as they could be?
What parents need to do is to show their kids that the "easy" path is not the best path for life. Recall my blog about "comfortable shoes"? Education and life is just like wearing those fancy comfortable shoes or sleeping on that soft bed. If things seem too easy, they most likely are. This should be a wake up call that you can do better and should. What seems to have happened here in the USA for the past 50 years is that we have taken the easiest path and now we find ourselves at the bottom of the hill while others who have taken the more difficult path are standing on top of the hill. It is as simple as that.
If it is your "dream" to do well in life, you are not going to get their by following the easiest path. Those who do well in life mostly got there by taking the harder paths and getting back up after they had been knocked down. Our kids stay down when they get knocked down because they are not strong enough to get back up.
