Do you enjoy working with people? Do you pride yourself on your communications and interpersonal skills? Are you the person that family and friends come to with their relationship and life problems? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is possible that a human development and family studies degree is right for you. Perhaps you have thought about going back to school for some time, but could not think of a program that would fit you. If a human development and family studies degree interests you, you will experience the following benefits and work examples.
Ability to solve problems
A human development and family studies degree will teach you effective conflict strategies. Most people go through conflict at some point in their life. Once you learn these skills, you will have the ability to apply those skills to a variety of situations. These problem solving and conflict management skills will be helpful in work mediations, family problems, divorce cases, and marital counseling. Pairing the human development and family studies degree with a degree in psychology can allow you to provide counseling and psychological assistance.
Advanced interpersonal and communication skills
Communication is a common problem among all types of relationships. Coworkers sometimes have difficulty communicating effectively. Many marriages end in divorce as a result of poor communication skills. Parents and their teens sometimes struggle because of unhealthy communication patterns. A human development and family studies degree improves your interpersonal and communication skills. You can then utilize these skills to help improve the communication styles of your clients.
Life skills and mentoring
A lot of the counseling field includes decision making and mentoring. Mentoring a young teen gives them a positive influence. Mentoring a young adult who has made poor decisions or formed unhealthy relationships helps them see their mistakes. When you enroll into any humanity program, you will see your life skill and mentoring abilities improve. You can then utilize these learned skills to provide local mentoring or to teach adult education. Not only will your degree help you to make a living, but you will also be making a difference in others? lives.
Work with children
There are multiple career opportunities that allow you to work with children. However, if you truly want to make a difference in their life, you can achieve that as a teacher. Teachers are the first positive role model that children idolize. Teachers are the person who will set the young child up for a life of success, both academically and socially. A degree in secondary education along with a specialty, such as a B.A. in English will allow you to make a positive influence in children?s lives. The compensation is not so bad either. English majors with only bachelor?s degrees report average starting salaries of $36,200 and mid career salaries of $63,500. These numbers increase even more with advanced degrees.
College graduation often means higher pay
In addition to all the good that you can do in the world with a human development and family studies degree, you are also likely to see an increase in pay when compared to non degree positions. In a 2012 Pew Research Report, workers with at least a bachelor?s degree had median annual earnings of $45,500, well over the medians for people with only some college ($30,000) or a high school diploma ($28,000). Just about 83% of all college attendees say earning their degree has paid off.
Some people are naturally good communicators, conflict handlers, and problem solvers. These types of skills fit nicely with certain careers, including counseling, psychology, education, life coach, and teachers. However, you will find that many of these fields require minimally a bachelor?s degree, while some require even higher than that. Fortunately, you are likely to make much more over your lifetime career, making the degree even more worth it.
