In recent years, there's been a big rise in the STEM field especially for millennials and new college students. We're taught that being good in math and going in to medicine is the way to go. That's where the money is and that's where we're destined to be most successful. We're being told to trade passion for stability and certainty. Everyday, college students are being shamed by their parents, peers and professors for their major or they're choice of schools. My friends are opting out of art majors because their parents won't pay for their college unless they're majoring in a "real career option." English majors are reminded that they'll only ever be a professor despite they're love of writing and language. So, this part of this article is from a millennial to parents of millennials.

DO NOT ASK YOUR CHILD TO DO ANYTHING BEYOND WHAT THEY LOVE AND WILL MAKE THEM HAPPY.

This should be your top priority as a parent. I know every parent wants to have the confidence that your child can enter the real world and be successful and happy and not have to worry about day to day struggles. But should we pass up the ability to love our job and live off of our means for the job that can guarantee financial stability but lack the enjoyment of work? Should that be a choice young students have to make? Of course, educate your kids on the problems of being payed very little or the instability of the job market that we're inevitably going into. Don't let your child enter college and choose a major blindly but never encourage a young adult to do something for the rest of their lives that won't bring them happiness. I have a friend that is an English major. Everyday she's told that she's only ever going to be able to be an English professor because being a writer is "too far fetched" and "too few people make it in that industry." I have a friend that is a music major. She, too, is told that her major will never benefit her unless she wants to teach music. The passion for these arts has lost it's luster and we're starting to become less and less accepting of the major your kids are choosing and beginning to choose for them.

Let's imagine for a second a world without the artists that are discouraged everyday:

Let's begin with this concept: you and your significant other are going on a date. You're both wearing the same boring clothing. Colors that only very slightly in shadings of grey, black and white, if that. Dinner and a movie? Not quite. Movies don't exist. I hope you're up for microwaved foods because culinary arts aren't available. You come home to an empty boring house without the beautiful touch of an introspective architect because you encouraged her to be a doctor. Want to go online? All of the websites are nothing but text because our graphic designers and website designers were forced to be engineers. Book club? I hope it's just as fun with no books to read. You'll never know what Brazil looks like without visiting yourself, and you'll never be able to watch your favorite sports without being there in person. Concerts don't exist because we've discouraged our future singers and artists.

We dishearten our artists and cease to imagine a world without them. Next time you don't want your kid to do what they love, remember that you appreciate their work without even realizing it.

TO THE KIDS BEING MAJOR SHAMED:
Do what you love and you'll be successful. Don't listen to people that don't understand you. You will have to work. Hard. You'll have to try and explain your dreams and passion to most people. Remember you don't owe anyone an explanation for what makes you happy. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Follow your dreams, make what you can and live the life you love.