There is an old saying that goes something like this, "Youth is wasted on young people". This is true in so many areas, but arguably one of the most critical of these areas is education, especially when it comes time to decide what to major in when they go to college. An associate of mine had this story to tell.



"When I was 17 I had no idea what I wanted to do. Oh sure, I had all these impractical things that I would have loved to do like be a rock star or a disc jockey or even an actor in commercials. But as far as a practical career went, I didn't have a clue. I was just too young. So I went to school and took up business. What do you do with business? Work in a bank? It turned out to be the worst mistake I ever made and ended up shaping what turned out to be most of the rest of my life, had it not been for some fortunate breaks".

This story is more common than you can possibly imagine. The truth is, most kids really don't know what they want to do with the rest of their lives when they are that young. This is a very big part of the reason why so many students change their majors more than a few times while they are in college.

So what's the problem? How do we solve it? Can it be solved? Or is this something that young people are just going to have to live with?

Depending on who you ask, you'll get different answers to these questions. Most education professionals feel that the problem lies with the parents not giving the children enough direction in their lives and not getting involved enough with their school work. Most parents feel the fault lies with the schools in not preparing them properly for college and not cultivating a real interest in studies from these children because their approach to teaching is so dry and boring. School just isn't interesting and therefore children are not motivated.

Psychologists and councilors have a different view of the situation. They believe that children at that age, for the most part, really don't know what they want to do with the rest of their lives and to expect that they will is totally unreasonable. Furthermore, they add that college is only the first step to a career. By the time most kids are out of college they will have a better idea of what they want to do and will move in that direction, even if it means they have to go back to school for more education. They don't view this as the end of the world. On the contrary, they view this as a good thing as they feel most kids are thrown out into the world way too soon. Life's short, but it's not that short.

So the answer to the question what to major in, basically comes down to what is in your gut and your heart at the time. You are most likely to change your minds about a lot of things as you go on through life. Don't look at this as a bad thing. Look at it as a chance to learn as much from life as you can. There is no telling where your journeys will take you, but if you keep an open mind they are sure to lead you to your ultimate final destination, whatever that might be.