Career paths

[bethben]

I am the one with the ds who wants to be an industrial designer.  He is currently a sophomore and we are enrolling him full time in CC next year.  He's ready.  He's on the older side for his grade anyway and has always been advanced.  Anyhow, when I was thinking of scheduling a college drawing class, I realized, this child has had no drawing instruction since he was 10.  He had no interest.  I was telling him, "I based classes on your personality and your strengths.  This whole drawing/design thing has NEVER been an interest of yours."  He likes building things, but has always used a model or example to work from.  It's like when I was sewing dresses for myself.  There's a big difference between sewing from a pattern and saying all of a sudden that you want to be a fashion designer. 

 

So, he's going to get an AA degree with an emphasis in communications while knocking out a bunch of random general studies.  In the meantime, we'll enroll him in a community art class to see if he has any talent.  

 

Have any of you had a child who decided upon a career path that had nothing to do with their perceived strengths and been successful at it?

 

[Arcadia]

My kids are nowhere near college age. My former career as an engineering project manager is not my academic strength but my extracurricular strength though. My academics strength was English and Maths. My chemistry was better than my physics and I went into engineering school (direct admit) because it fits my personality :)

 

I failed Art from 1st grade to 8th grade when it was a compulsory subject. I aced my engineering computer graphics design courses. I can't draw well without a ruler or compass but give me a computer and stylus and it is a whole other world.

 

The industrial designers I know are from mechanical engineering and they design prosthetics, robots and other mechanical items. They also tweak existing products.

 

I would have your son try out the free versions of Blender and SketchUp. Some people are artistic designers like fashion designers while some are "pragmatic" designers like designing cars, airplanes, and some are both.

 

Blender link https://www.blender.org

SketchUp link https://www.sketchup.com

 

My DS12 who has thought about being an architect does not like creative drawing, even though he doodles a lot, but loves computer modeling.

[Bluegoat]

I suspect this may not end up being a real problem.  A lot of kids don't do much drawing, even in art classes, or get much instruction in drawing.  And drawing as a younger kid is really different in some ways than as an adult.

 

All of which is to say, I bet a lot of kids in the class will have little or no relevent experience.  Even at our local art college which requires a portfolio to be admitted, foundation drawing classes start right from the beginning and some students really are beginners.

 

Some community art classes will be fine, but some computer based drawing might be equally useful for his future goals.  My aunt is a designer and most of her work, even for things like posters which look like they are paintings, is done on the computer.

[bethben]

I guess I looked at reviews from one of the professors that taught drawing. There were a lot of reviews on how tough she was. Some liked that aspect and some hated it. Some artists who sell their drawings got a "c" in her class. So, it made me think that ds really needed at least a small bit of skill to start at that level.

[JanetC]

1. Yes, it's very common for kids to change their minds about what they want to major in as they become more aware of what's involved. Lots of little boys love imagining being a firefighter versus the day to day reality of the job (you mean I don't get to drive around in a truck with sirens blaring all day?!) Teens have a better, but not perfect, view of what jobs are like. The best thing you can do is tour departments, read course descriptions, and make sure he understands what he's getting into as much as possible. It is also very common for kids to doubt their major the junior year of college - after all the easy classes are done and the major-specific ones start getting harder and more competitive.

 

2. Yes, Drawing 101 often has mixed reviews. For many reasons:

a. Like English 101, it's not often standardized. English 101 professors have to teach basic composition, but they have a lot of freedom on the reading list, etc. It varies somewhat from professor to professor, so reading the syllabi or books list is helpful. Similarly, Drawing 101 must cover certain topics, but the professor may have a favorite medium (ink versus charcoals versus pencils), or different approaches to teaching.

b. Art classes in middle school and somewhat into high school are graded with lots of points for participation and effort. The college class will be graded on how accurate your proportions and perspective are and your technical skills. It's much more strict.

c. Drawing 101 attracts students with lots of different levels of preparation. Just as a student with a weak English background takes longer to churn out essays in beginning comp, a student with a weak art background will take longer to churn out drawings. This will make the class seem harder and more time consuming.

 

Hope this helps!

 

EDIT: Fix participation to preparation

Edited April 19, 2017 by JanetC