Why does society push young adults to go to college? The average American child is brainwashed by the time he is five, that he will attend college, and have a comfortable life afterward, with a nice salary and be able to afford nice things. For many this is not true. We all know that the worth of a college degree is depreciating. However, for Asian Americans like me, college has been helpful in allowing us to easily jump half a social class, within one generation, and avoid clerical and dead end jobs. For example, most of my family in my parents' generation is uneducated due to the Cultural Revolution,but most of the F1 generation have been able to jump from lower middle class to upper middle class, working in "white collar" fields like medicine, business, and engineering. I am on track to be able to achieve this result. I am doing well in my undergraduate career, and have excellent mentoring to be able to achieve PA school. However, I feel that I am being cheated in college, and that I have been drilled lies since I was a child. Tuition is going up yet again this year, and I am seeing more graduates unable to obtain jobs. It seems that my only option if I want a "good" job is to attend PA school after I get my Medical Lab Science degree. However, I am starting to rethink the true value of PA school, and college in general. I will make a list of Pros and Cons of PA school: Pros: -Elevate my family to a higher economic and social class than where it currently is(my mother is a butcher, and she has high aspirations for me). -Excellent starting salaries (80-85K) (that's double my mother's salary) -More independence at work-- pretty much only have to work under a doctor. I will be high on the healthcare hierarchy, and have control of nurses, lab techs, etc. -Be able to buy a large house, possibly work part time and still make a lot of money, have an extra child, because I can afford it. Haakon can stay at home with the future kid(s), because we can afford to only have one spouse working.. . - Don't have to look at price tags anymore when I go to Macy's. Actually shop at Lord and Taylor, instead of having to window shop with my mom. -Have a "useful career". Be what society calls an important person... - "Claim my fate"
I feel that if I do become an educated professional, I will lose my moral values and contribute to the social inequality that exists already. I will have the demented mentality that I have just outlined in my prospective "pros". Listing the cons is of no importance. The Pros are the cons! Do you see why I am rethinking becoming a PA? This is the kind of conceited world that many doctors/PAs live in. How can these even be pros? I do not want to become somebody who rules over people, makes way more than other workers (who will work harder than me but make half my salary), have more money than I'll ever need, and be someone that is revered... Doctors and PAs are not better than other people, but society seems to elevate them (and other people with money) on some kind of pedestal. I don't want to become one of the socially anesthetized bourgeoisie, in a bubble of upper middle class blindness and comfort, impervious to real societal problems. I just want to make enough money, live minimalistically, somehow not contribute to social inequality, and maximize my benefit to society. I do not care to live in upper middle class comfort, or to order my bureaucracy around, sign prescriptions in messy handwriting, and complain about "nurse's incompetence" or the "medical technician's slowness, still not back with that CBC".
Could I do it? Probably... and frankly I love patients, especially the underrepresented geriatric population that I work with at the nursing home. However, I do not think that going from "living comfortably" to "living VERY comfortably", is worth PA school. I think I have the wrong mindset altogether, to become a PA... If I ever conclusively decide to do it, I'll have to find some reason why being a PA is more useful to society than being a nurse. Also I will have to convince myself that it would be ok to financially burden my mother and myself for three extra years...
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