My daughter is applying to graduate programs and wants to study development economics, but my wife and I are worried she's being naive about both the career prospects and whether academic development work actually helps anyone. We disagree about how much to push back on her idealism versus support her passion, and we haven't found a way to have this conversation without feeling like we're either crushing her dreams or failing to prepare her for reality.
More people experience this than they realize.
Parents are struggling to balance protecting their child from disillusionment while honoring her moral aspirations in a field they see as problematic.
“Where Are You with Development economics — why some countries are poor?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.