Mar 13, 2015

What to Do If Your Child’s First Love Is . . . Art



《如果孩子的第一选择是艺术(文科)课程,身为父母你该怎么办?》

两天前华尔街日报有一篇有关孩子升学的文章:我们经历过,上一代父母也许曾试过,我的孩子将亲身体会;唉,一个老掉牙却没有肯定答案的课题。。。

看到这题目,你也许会怒发冲冠,忧心忡忡,或会心一笑?

升学,是孩子与父母共同经历之路,你一点也不孤单!也请不要告诉我这样的念头不曾在你的脑海中闪过或在心里煎熬过。相信我,许多白人父母的想法与亚洲人父母是一样的;这并不是亚洲人VS西方人士价值观的课题,反而跟家庭成长背景息息相关的选择题。

“按照你的才华与爱好做选择”,当孩子还小的时候父母会这样告诉孩子!

长大后,除了了解自己的能力外,也开始懂得衡量利益,选择变得很困难。以功利考量为出发点;往往就演变成自己想做现实不能做结果逼得自己放弃所好,而作出的“最佳”选择。这种现实与理想的拔河,比比皆是,真的没有好坏对错。

天下父母都想给孩子最好最稳定的未来;但是未来无法预测;很多的时候这是一场变相的赌注,小风险或大风险在于自己,最重要是愿赌服输,一切自我承担。

抢学生,是美国大学每年的招数


长大后,除了了解自己的能力外,也开始懂得衡量利益,选择变得很困难。以功利考量为出发点;往往就演变成自己想做现实不能做结果逼得自己放弃所好,而作出的“最佳”选择。这种现实与理想的拔河,比比皆是,真的没有好坏对错。

天下父母都想给孩子最好最稳定的未来;但是未来无法预测;很多的时候这是一场变相的赌注,小风险或大风险在于自己,最重要是愿赌服输,一切自我承担。

众所周知,美国最吃香,也最容易找工作的课程都与数理有关(STEM= Science Technology Engineering Maths)。

我曾经在这篇《Your Math Teacher Was Right 》中提过,有兴趣可以重看参考。

仔细读一读,《艺术系毕业=失业》的神话,文中提供的一些数据,也许可以冲击我们的思考,供参考。

譬如:70%的文科/艺术系毕业生满意他们的工作环境与待遇

70% of those employed as fine artists, photographers, dancers and writers said they were “very satisfied” with their job and the creative opportunities it provided, notwithstanding the low pay.

又譬如:70%的专业技术人士不喜欢他们的工作

On average, more than 70% of professional artists like their work, while 70% of executives, doctors, teachers and other workers dislike theirs。

到最后,人生并不只是数字与物质,一切就等你自己来结论吧。。。

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What to Do If Your Child’s First Love Is . . . Art
By JERRY CIANCIOLO
March 9, 2015

Nearly every month there’s a news story or magazine article proclaiming the high-paying careers ofthe future. They are usually in fields such as biomedicine, nanotechnology, systems analysis and robotics. The pay sometimes touches six figures for entry-level positions.

For young men and women interested in science, technology, engineering or math, the so-called STEM subjects, the future appears bright. But what’s a parent to do, aside from gulp, when his child’s first love is . . . art?

It’s not a concern in middle school and high school. That’s the time to bask in your offspring’s talent at recitals, theater productions, dance ensembles or art exhibitions. But as admissions season opens and one digs earnestly into the Fiske Guide to Colleges, the parental attitude shifts from “You’re so wonderfully talented” to “Talent’s a great thing, but how’re you going to make a living?”

The unsubtle message for the emerging artist is “playtime’s over.”

Two teenagers in my neighborhood were caught in this squeeze. One, a promising pianist, had won a handful of musical competitions. Sit her at the keyboard, with or without an audience, and her very essence flows out.

The other painted canvasses beyond his years. Stand before one of his creations, closing your eyes to the cavernous gym around you, and it is no stretch to imagine the work hanging in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Whether one was a potential Horowitz and the other a Georgia O’Keeffe we’ll never know. At the prompting of their parents, the daughter is pursuing a degree in chemistry, the son a doctorate in physical therapy.

In a culture whose cri de coeur is “follow your passion,” there’s a certain irony here. Yet who can blame the parents? They foresee their children clerking at the local pharmacy to support their passion—a hardscrabble life, without means to buy a house, start a family or have the amenities their friends who studied medicine or law will surely have. Parents shudder at the thought of their children gambling their future on something as fanciful as art. (There’s the matter of paying all that tuition, too.)

But it may be the parents who are rolling the dice. Say the word “artist” and for many people adjectives like flaky, loner, eccentric and unemployable come to mind. This last one is especially alarming to any mom or dad. But how accurate are these caricatures? Not very, according to a 2011 study conducted by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project.

Two findings of this study, involving 13,500 arts graduates at 154 institutions, stand out: 92% of those who sought work after graduation found it, and 66% of these young artists reported that their first job out of school was a close match for the kind of work they wanted. Further, 70% of those employed as fine artists, photographers, dancers and writers said they were “very satisfied” with their job and the creative opportunities it provided, notwithstanding the low pay.

What’s striking about these levels of satisfaction is that the obverse is true for other U.S. workers. The Gallup organization, in its 2013 State of the American Workplace report, found that, on average, “70 percent of American workers are ‘not engaged’ or ‘actively disengaged’ and emotionally disconnected from their workplaces.”

Regardless of the field, the level of discontent holds true within a few percentage points. Only 36% of executives said they were engaged in their work, 34% of physicians, 31% of teachers, 29% of sales workers, and a mere 24% of workers in manufacturing.

Let’s do the math, then. On average, more than 70% of professional artists like their work, while 70% of executives, doctors, teachers and other workers dislike theirs. Fretful parents, who is better off?

Fool ourselves as we might, we cannot predict or foresee what’s best for our children, nor do we, as Marian Edelman said, have the right to rain on their dreams. Life is too messy, too reliant on luck, chance encounters, coincidence and a thousand unforeseeable variables to think we, or our children, can chart a linear path to happiness.

No one will deny there are beleaguered artists who regret the path they took—in fact, rue the day they first pressed middle C, stood before an easel, or danced en pointe. But for every one of them, how many mathematicians, engineers and scientists are there still gnawed, many years later, by the fact that they relinquished their first love for the sake of a big house, three cars and a flat-screen TV?

4 comments:

Candy said...

天下的父母都一样,希望孩子的将来有保障。再有才华、再有天份,都需吃饭,除非父母有的是钱,完全不必担心将来的生活费。我也这样告诉孩子,当你有稳定的收入,嗜好随时都可以做。否则,再多的热诚也得向现实低头。

呼吸的747 @ 747 is breathing said...

哈哈,选修Art并不可怕,要从事Art行业才可怕啦!(不好意思,有踢馆的成分^^)说得真好,现实与理想往往是两回事!

黄君慧 Ng Kwan Wei said...

747, 欢迎踢馆,踢得越高越有价值嘛~根据文中的数据,读文科出来的毕业生都能找到他们喜欢的工作咧,而且满意快乐指数都很高。你的行业更是让你看了许多例子吧?

黄君慧 Ng Kwan Wei said...

Candy, 就是,你说的对,先满足基本需求才来谈嗜好。。。我有位朋友的女儿热心助人,一心一意想选修人文社会有关的科系。妈妈说,那些课程是拿来实践的,不是花钱读的。哈哈,说的也是~

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