aarggghhh! more of a rant than anything else. my mother is a nurse (NP actually). growing up, the expectation was always made very clear that my brother and I were to go into healthcare, and that nothing else would be an acceptable career choice. (He's a successful sous chef, and my mother didn't talk to him for two years after she realized he wasn't ever going to medical school and is serious about doing what he enjoys).
Now our younger brother is being pushed in the same direction - he's 15 and he has no interest or particular aptitude for nursing or healthcare. His talent and passion is languages -he's in 10th grade and is taking French and Russian at a local university after testing out of honors language classes at his school, and teaching ESL at a nonprofit center for immigrant services.
Last night he mentioned to our parents that he was thinking about majoring in linguistics at college. My mother flipped out and started telling him that healthcare is the only profession you can count on, that he would be stupid to walk away from the chance to earn a ton of money and how there's such a need for nurses that he would be able to write his own ticket and get work easily in any specialty. All the myths were trotted out - big money, easy to find a job, make your own schedule, you can go right into the ER or any other popular specialty area right out of school, etc.
This is at least one reason why people are going into nursing/healthcare with expectations that are not at all reality-based. Where are they hearing that there's big money, easy money, flexible scheduling, loads of cushy or high-profile jobs? Someone is telling these people to expect that, and sometimes it's not Yahoo! Answers giving them the wrong idea- but rather experienced, working nurses who should know better!
tbh I really want to show him the AN forums so he can get a different perspective.
