“Doctor, lawyer, engineer, nurse, or disappointment.”
In my Haitian household, these are the main career paths a child can take. My parents watched their firstborn, their only daughter, reject all of these sensible traditional options and instead switch career aspirations every few weeks. I wanted to be a fashion designer for a few years when I was really little, then I wanted to be a novelist, or a journalist, or a traveling physician for Doctors Without Borders, or maybe a nun, or a member of the Coast Guard (keep in mind I only learned how to swim last year), or a restaurant owner, or a personal shopper, or maybe a photographer, or the Prime Minister of Haiti, or perhaps an interior designer. I was all over the place for most of my childhood and youth.
After years of indecision, I finally settled on being a teacher. I am passionate about education and education reform. My parents were less than thrilled at this because they are equally passionate about me not starving. Finally, however, we reached a compromise when it came time for me to go off to university: they would support my dreams of teaching if I promised to go to law school to secure some upward mobility. I know that I eventually want to work in education administration and policy, so a doctorate would certainly be a good thing to have, but now I’m not so sure if I want to go into grad school right after four years of The Struggle here. We’ll see. I enjoyed the seminar because it helped me realize that education and a career don’t have to be linear. My parents’ concern for my financial security and overall well-being will always affect their counsel, but at the end of the day I will graduate with an Ivy League degree. I am significantly less likely to suffer simply because of the street cred of the Ivy League. What happens after that is entirely up to me, and I’m excited about it.
It was really nice reading your blog post. I come from a very conservative family and being female a job isn’t necessarily the first thing on my parent’s mind when they think of my future. Whenever I would mention getting a job, they were the opposite of what you described your parents to be, and basically, believe that they instead support me than for me to have a job and have to work for my own money. Once Cornell came into the picture that all changed. As you said, the ivy league has a reputation to it, and with it, the parents image of my future shifted. You won’t believe the career path I’m on! I want to become a teacher as well! My parents weren’t so against me becoming a teacher, however, because in my culture it is seen as a respected field, although, in our society today it isn’t the most highly paid. Overall my parents are ok with me being a teacher because they know how passionate about it I am about it. From one future teacher to the other I wish you the best of luck!
I really enjoyed reading your story! Similarly, I also had numerous career aspirations growing up ranging from firefighter to astrophysicist to neuroscientist. So naturally coming to Cornell, deciding to major in ILR was the obvious choice haha. My parents did not really care what my career path was, give or take their occasional rude remarks on becoming an artist when I was in my art phase. I think your pursuit of a career in education is amazing and I wish you luck!