What Do You Want?

Economy, what does the word economy actually mean? The google definition of economy is, “an area of production, distribution, and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services by a different agent”. The way I chose to speak about the economy with my interviewees, mainly was about jobs and how they wanted to succeed in the future. 

Out of all the 5 interviews I gave, I wanted to speak about just one of them while integrating other interviews I had. Her name was Olivia and she is a junior here at UD with a major is biology and minor in business management. After hearing this, I asked her why she chose that minor if she was set on becoming a doctor and she said it was because her father always said you can never go wrong with a business degree if something else doesn’t work out. This was interesting because in another interview with Garret who is a sophomore biology major here at UD also studying to become a doctor said he wants to become a doctor so he could make a comfortable life for himself. I found that many people did not actually speak upon why they have passion about their major and their future plans in the workforce, but the reason for choosing those certain majors were because there was “comfortable” money promised for them.

Too many people decide their majors based on pay instead of passion and I find that this has a detrimental impact on society due to the economy. Life is expensive, yes, but as it continues to increase in rate the factor of people choosing their dream job or love for work they want they settle for a job they dislike and are unsatisfied with due to the money involved. 

I asked Teresa, a freshman here at UD majoring in elementary education, why she chose her major. She said it was because she loved kids and loved to see their smile when they were able to learn something new. This almost shocked me because many people are drawn back from becoming an early childhood educator due to the salary that it is almost a job looked down upon, but no one understands the passion behind it. This is why I chose to look at the economy this way, because more people than not are choosing their work life plans based on money instead of love and passion which is why rates such as mental health, depression, and happiness impressively decrease so rapidly. I am not sure if Olivia was speaking through her father, but I am sure that many people such as her dad believe that if you are too scared to do the work to take the easy way out, because at least you’ll make some money even if it is not that of a high paying job. This is honestly sad and I hope more people can see jobs and the economy for what they want and not what society wants.