These were my daughter’s exact words to me yesterday. We had been discussing our recent beef with our HOA board and she mentioned (as she has dozens of times before) that I should really become a lawyer. “You can argue anything, mom. You really need to go to law school.”
Flattered, but unconvinced, I responded that I am perfectly happy being mother to my children and see no reason to pursue another career at the present.
She paused, then opined that despite not wanting her kids to spend their days with anyone other than her, she did not want her college degree to go unused.
My response, “What makes you think that staying home with your children is a waste of an education?”
To be fair, I understand that most degrees train someone for a specific field of work. I realize that not pursuing that particular career makes the cost associated with one’s education yield a low financial return.
However, here are a few reasons I disagree with the assumption that my college degree has been “wasted” because I’ve spent all but two years since earning that degree raising my children.
- If/when I decide to get a paying job, my earning potential exceeds that of a non-degree holder. I think of it as an insurance policy.
- Being an educated woman means I know how to learn. I’m not scared to tackle new projects or experiences. I just do my homework on how it’s done and jump in with both feet. In fact, pretty much everything I’ve learned about being a good wife, mother, homemaker, etc. is predicated on that fundamental ability and confidence to learn new things. Now I could teach my own class on a variety of subjects, despite not having a formal education in any of them.
- It sounds silly, but, with the exception of eighth grade algebra and on, I can actually help my kids with their homework. I still read enough that I haven’t lost all memory of things academic. Consequently, my children still consider me an authority on all sorts of topics. It’s kinda awesome.
- This one may seem shallow and it certainly isn’t the reason I attended college. But, having done so gave me exposure to the kind of dating pool full of eligible bachelors whose earning potential would allow me to stay home forever, if I want to. I’m not saying we’re swimming in dough, but we can still live comfortably without my having to offer financial support. It’s safe to say that Tim and I found each other because we were both pursuing an education. He wanted an educated spouse and so did I. Quite possibly for entirely different reasons. 😉
So, dear daughter, my college degree is certainly not wasted. It’s not even lying dormant. It very much facilitates my success as a stay-at-home parent, despite the lack of a paycheck.
So unless you think money is the only way to make a college education worthwhile, feel free to pursue that degree. And then feel free to stay at home with your kids, if that’s what you want. No guilt.
While learning can be a means to an end, sometimes learning itself is the end. Beyond gaining content knowledge, through the learning process we discover how to cope with challenges, setbacks and failure. We communicate ideas. We find out what it means to be curious about something enough to want to research the answer. That is something we use regardless of our career pathways
Spoken like a teacher! I will say that it would be nice if my degree was more directly related to parenthood. Still, learning how to learn is the most vital skill one can gain in pursuing an education and it’s safe to say that though the learning curve is steep, that skill alone has proven invaluable. Hope you had fun on your trip!