“My daughter is a junior in high school, and she is sure that she wants to major in music in college,” reads a Sunday (6/4) letter at Forbes.com. “That plan scares my husband and I greatly.” Liz Ryan, a career consultant and writer, responds, “Your daughter has a little flame inside her…. Your job as a parent is to help her grow that flame…. Following the tough road of a music major will make your daughter more sturdy and flexible…. Traditionally ‘safe’ degrees are no longer safe….. Musical kids are hardy. They get that way sitting on a freezing bus at five in the morning going to a band or orchestra competition…. If you choose a program that you can afford without student loans, your child will have incurred no risk… If your child wants to work for a multinational corporation … they will get hired fast. Corporations know how smart and capable musical kids are…. When your daughter comes home on her first break … you will see her maturing before your eyes—stepping into her power as a performer and a person making a mark on the planet. You can’t do better for your child than to encourage her in that journey.”
Posted June 7, 2017
