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CRITICAL THINKING
60 is the New 22
Just got my degree
Who knew?
It only took me 41 years.
I started college in 1980 after a gap year. I had to pay my own way. My father swore he’d happily pay for college — but only if I became a dentist. Yes, the career choice he made for me was that specific and the straw man he built was that flimsy. I know Dad; if I’d taken him up on his offer and become a biology major on a path to dental school, he’d have found a reason not to pay.
Dad said it was important to go into the medical profession because people will always need doctors and dentists. Lifetime job security, no matter what the economy does or doesn’t do. Respectability. Unsaid: if I were a dentist, I’d be rich. I’d have the means to take good care of him in his old age. Even though he himself had plenty of money.
Dad was always thinking ahead.
Dead end major
Back in 1980, there was still such a thing as a Home Economics major, and I jumped at it. Of course! I love food and I can sew. The flip side was dark; career paths for a Home Ec major? Two. (1) Home economics teacher. In retrospect, that major would be the opposite of job security because who even teaches Home Ec these days? (2) Dietitian. I’m pretty sure that is…
