A Mother's Education

Research has shown that married couples with dual income homes actually end up losing money instead of gaining more income. With all factors included that must be purchased in order to provide a second job for the wife, it results in a net loss for the household. This can provide a source of conflict, as most couples do decide to work because they wish to provide better educational and social opportunities for their children, when in reality it does the opposite. 

Children with mothers whose primary job is nurturing have typically have better outcomes emotionally and academically. 

Now that this has been made clear, that it is better economically and developmentally (for the children) if mothers do not have jobs and instead stay home, the question remains, how important is it really for women who wish to start families and become mothers to receive college education and get degrees.

This is a very important question to me, and I am currently a college student pursuing a degree and potential career. What are the cons of receiving a college education?

First off, it is costly, both in time and in finances. It can put stress on an early marriage, paying off debts from the woman’s education when it most likely will not pay of itself in the future. It also can be difficult to have children and be a student at the same time, which can cause couples to delay having children, and couples that have children later in their relationship can result in them having fewer children all together.

The prospect does have many benefits regardless of these. For example, my mother received a bachelor’s and master’s in microbiology. She was a very promising student, valedictorian of her class, and was encouraged by her professors and those around her to go on to receive her Ph.D.. She decided to have children instead, and the perks of her extensive education have been numerous. She has always been very proficient in helping with difficult homework questions, which sounds trivial, but is a more important issue then most women who wish to be stay at home moms I think realize. My mother is also very good at helping us achieve academically and supporting us in our various studies. These degrees my mother has also provide our family with an added security, as if something were to happen to our Dad, albeit injury, death or unemployment, we would have my mothers education and the work they could provide as something to fallback on and give us a moderately comfortable lifestyle. In other words of support for mother’s with degrees, it has been proven that a mother’s level of educational degree has high correspondence to her children’s levels of academic success. It can encourage children to follow their education to the fullest extent and continuing exercising their talents.

Overall, it is each individual couple’s decision on whether or not to spend the money on a Mother’s degree. It should be made clear, however, that there are numerous ways to receive and further an education, and these don’t necessarily have to cost money or so much time that the raising of children is impossible. Just to name a few of these methods, a woman can read newspapers, books and articles on the topics she wishes to further research. Educational podcasts and radio shows are always available for those who don’t have the resources to attend class. As cliche as it may seem, keeping a “mommy blog” -creating and conducting experiment and analyzing the results can be very mentally stimulating. To each woman her own.