I was attending the 47th North American Power
Symposium during 4-6 October in Charlotte, North Carolina when I had this
interesting conversation with a professor from another university. I told the
professor that I did my Masters in Electrical Engineering and then I moved to Engineering
Education to pursue my PhD. The first reaction which the professor had was in
form of a comment in which they told me that it will not be very beneficial for
me in terms of the salary which I will earn after graduating from my degree
program. I think the assumption which the professor made here was that a
graduate with an education degree will earn less than the one with an electrical
engineering degree.
There might be some truth in what the professor said
(although when I compared the salaries of professors from Engineering Education
and Electrical & Computer Engineering departments at Virginia Tech, I did
not find much difference between them; but for now, let us go ahead with the
assumption that electrical engineering professors earn more than their
counterparts in engineering education). It might be difficult for me to compete
with electrical engineering graduates in terms of the salary which I will earn
after my graduation, but is that all I want from my education? A big fat
salary? Or does it have to be more? Is there a bigger purpose for me and for
others that leads us to pursue higher education?
If I look at the current narrative about the higher
education, it seems like students see it as an investment in terms of time and
money and the expectation is that this investment will pay off once they
graduate from the university. And this is why a lot of their time and energy is
focused on taking classes or engaging in activities that help them secure a
high-paying job. This is not to say that all students look at higher education
only as a means to get a high-paying job but the number of students who do so
is significant. And this is very evident in my own discipline, engineering. In
fact, I have myself fallen into the trap of taking classes and engaging in
activities that, I thought, would eventually help me get a high-paying job.
I am not against having a desire for a high-paying job. In
fact, with the rising costs of higher education, one needs to ensure that one
has a well-paying job by the time they graduate so that they can payback their student
loans. Issues arise when people start constructing their academic lives around
money and jobs; and ignore various avenues of learning which are essential for
personal growth and development into a responsible citizen. Moreover, there are
other issues with focusing one’s higher education entirely on getting
high-paying jobs. The economic landscape is changing rapidly and it is possible
that the sectors which are high-paying now will no longer be high-paying a few
years later and vice versa. So, if students pursue money while they are in
college, there is no guarantee that they will succeed in that pursuit as there
might not be many high-paying jobs in their fields few years down the line.
Moreover, the charm of money fades away after some time and if one does not
find their work interesting and satisfying, one might encounter dissatisfaction
with their career and life.
In my opinion, students should follow their interests while they are pursuing higher education and try to get into careers they love. Even if they do not make a lot
of money as compared to those who pursued money, they will still love what they
do and hence live meaningful lives. And when the going gets tough, doing what
they love will keep them going.
