Seeking a Practical Education

Mariam Braimah ’13 was in eighth grade when she told her parents she didn’t want to be a doctor.

Braimah’s parents—immigrants from Nigeria—had long wanted their Brooklyn-born daughter to go into medicine. In her parents’ minds, becoming a doctor “is a sure bet at being successful.”

“I can’t really say what’s expected of African-Americans, but Nigerian families expect something in the medical field, at worst a lawyer,” Braimah says of her parents’ expectations.

But, instead of spending her days in lab, Braimah plans to concentrate in History of Art and Architecture or a special concentration in architecture.

While she’s straying from her parents’ ideal career path, Braimah says it’s an easier pill for her parents’ to swallow for one reason—she’s studying at Harvard.

Despite the fact that she is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants and not from Nigeria herself, Braimah still shares a common burden with many students from developing countries: the pressure to study a “practical” field, such as medicine, science, or engineering.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

A liberal arts education system like Harvard’s does not exist in many countries, such as in Kenya, home of Gerishom Gimaiyo ’13.

Gimaiyo says he originally planned to attend medical school in Kenya.

But as he awaited entrance to the university—all Kenyan students wait at least a year after high school before attending college—he decided to go to Harvard instead.

Director of International Admissions Robin M. Worth ’81 says she often finds it difficult to explain the benefits of a liberal arts education to students in developing countries where university education is designed to prepare students for particular professions.

Gimaiyo echoes this idea, noting that Harvard’s curricular structure differs widely from the studies his peers pursue in Kenya, where students take nearly all the same courses.

“The U.S. system provides the opportunity to ‘find yourself,’” Gimaiyo says.

Since coming to Harvard, Gimaiyo has decided to concentrate in economics, though his decision may not be easily understood back in Kenya.

“[My doctor] asked what I was going to do [at Harvard], when I told him economics, he asked why I was leaving medicine to do some ‘funny thing,’” Gimaiyo says.

He explains that in Kenya, economics is seen as an art rather than a practical field of study. As a result, Gimaiyo says that he plans to get a secondary field in Computer Science to give his studies a more practical focus.

From an early age, students in developing countries are heavily exposed to science, engineering, and medicine, according to Omer Aftab ’11, a native of Lahore, Pakistan.

“That’s what they’re exposed to, so that’s what they go to when they come to Harvard,” Aftab says.

While Worth says that a liberal arts education prepares people to be better professionals, better citizens, and better problem solvers, she acknowledges that many students come from cultures where “good students do science.”

MONEY MATTERS

Not only are “practical” careers such as medicine considered more prestigious in many cultures, they also lead to high-paying jobs.

Worth says that education is one of the few ways for young people to achieve financial success and improve the lives of their family members.

Braimah describes the attitude her parents have toward success as “doing something you enjoy, but making sure it makes money.”

She says she considered her potential future earnings as she weighed her concentration options. Growing up, Braimah says she watched her parents work hard to move up the social ladder, and money began to become synonymous with success and happiness.

“The higher you go, there’s just a better life, and better schools,” she says. “Just can’t be poor because that won’t be fun.”

Gimaiyo agrees, saying that there is a strong correlation between people’s concentration choices and their ability to find a job in their home countries after graduation. In Kenya, he says, it is rare to find someone studying folklore and mythology, women and gender studies, or linguistics, as those concentrations are not considered marketable.

However, Aftab says he believes that a degree from Harvard makes it possible for students to find jobs in their home countries, even if they study something more obscure.

“Any degree at Harvard can get a job,” he says. “I don’t think undergraduate degrees affect job factors much, I don’t think there’s a strong correlation.”

But Gimaiyo says that even people with highly-marketable degrees in engineering sometimes have difficulty finding jobs in Kenya, so he feels pressure to do something people in Kenya would consider practical.

“If you tell someone you’re doing linguistics, even here at Harvard or at Oxford, people won’t consider it practical. You want to choose something that’s considered practical back home because at the very least you want to get a job.” Gimaiyo says.

LOOKING AHEAD

After graduation, students from outside the United States must decide whether to return to their home countries.

Gimaiyo says that he wants to go back to Kenya to pursue a career in public service, perhaps focusing on economic policy making.

But he says he still worries about the possibility that his concentration choice will have a negative impact on his ability to find a job.

“Economics is considered an art, not very practical,” Gimaiyo says. “But learning it at Harvard, it might give me a certain edge. When I want to go into policy making, it might make the process a bit smoother.”

While he plans to return to Pakistan, Aftab says he is unsure what career he will pursue, though he is thinking about starting his own business.

Braimah says she plans to pursue her passion for architecture, despite her parents’ hopes for her to become a doctor. She says she would like to work in New York to allow her to focus on corporate architecture.

Braimah says her parents are beginning to accept her unconventional career ambitions, and her dad has even given her some architecture books.

“I love my parents, I love the way they raised me, even though they pushed that doctor thing. I understand they really just want the best for their children, and to them a doctor is the best you can be. If they hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t be here,” she says. “But if I took Women and Gender Studies, my parents would demolish me,” she adds with a laugh.

—Staff writer Victoria L. Venegas can be reached at vvenegas@college.harvard.edu.