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Fellow parents of grade 12 students: Anxiety is something that we’re
all struggling to live with these days, but if your teen is graduating
from high school this year, you may be dealing with even more
soul-searching, gut-wrenching stress – theirs, but also your own, emphasiz Shawna Dolansky, Associate Professor in the College of the Humanities at Carleton University.
How to
advise? What makes a good life? You want them to be happy, but you also
want them to be self-sufficient and gainfully employed.
A student moves into residence in early September. Grade 12 students are now starting to make choices about what they'll study at university next year.
Photo: Tony Caldwell /Postmedia
Full disclosure: In addition to being the parent of a grade 12 student, I’m also a humanities professor. This makes me partial, but it also means that I have lots of data to back me up when I say that employment prospects don’t need to come at the expense of happiness. You don’t need to discourage them from pursuing the things they enjoy because you’re concerned they’ll need to move back home when they graduate...
I have the privilege of teaching in Carleton’s Bachelor of Humanities program. We produce well-rounded, adaptable and critical thinkers capable of strong leadership in today’s disruptive economy. We foster precisely the skills and competencies called for in the RBC report, evidenced by the overwhelming successes of our alumni, who become top doctors, lawyers and novelists, leaders of business and industry, education, international development, public policy, scientific research, thriving in many fields. Having “real-world impact” comes naturally to our graduates.
Technological skills, vocational training and scientific disciplines are clearly essential. But humanities make scientists better at their work and as people, a fact that employers are increasingly coming to recognize.
Source: Ottawa Citizen
