On becoming a linguist, part one

One of the best conversation starters I've learned in graduate school is to ask people how they chose their career paths. Contrary to my previous assumptions, most people don't grow up knowing exactly what they want to be when they grow up. As I've asked people about what shaped their decisions to study their particular fields, very few people have answered "I just always wanted to be an X." Instead, I hear about people who played an important role in decision making, life circumstances, convenience and the discovery of an unknown interest. When consulting with most academics on this topic, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "I became a professor because it was convenient." Certainly earning a doctorate is not convenient. The convinience response tends to come more from my students who are coming back to school to switch careers or from people who stuck with their college jobs after graduation and didn't persue finding work related to their major.

Most days I am still surprised at myself for becoming a linguist and earning a PhD. I never wanted to go to college. I have clear memories of my classmates talking about their future college plans while dressing for gym class in middle school. Someone eventually asked me where I wanted to go to college and I said "I'm not going to college." I think everyone in the locker room stopped putting deoderant on and stared at me. I took all honors classes with the same group of girls. Not going to college? What are you going to do? Apparently I was the only person in my class who thought the normal thing to do was graduate from high school and then get married. Clearly it was far more acceptable to go to college and choose a career, or at least that was the message in my early 90s gym class preparations that day.

I must have kept my mouth shut about my aspirations to become a housewife throughout the rest of my teenage years. I remember the topic of future careers coming up now and then in high school.  Once I told a classmate that I was thinking about becoming a physical therapist. She laughed at me and said I wasn't smart enough to do that. As my classmates started applying for colleges, I tried to figure out how to leave the country. Eventually my mom told me I had to either get a job or go to college. I tried to get a job, but when that failed, I enrolled in the automotive program at my local community college. I liked working on cars and had completed 2 years' worth of training. (I had also just won a state competition for my automotive skills and was on my way to compete at nationals) One of the only things holding me back was my autoshop teacher. He told everyone to become a mechanic except me. He told me, "Kelsie, I don't know what you're supposed to become, but it's not a mechanic." That hurt me even though I knew he thought I was a good mechanic. Apparently he thought that if I became a mechanic I would be wasting all of my other skills.

When I started taking college classes, I decided to take general education courses before the mechanic classes. I took math, English composition and psychology that term. I think I got a C in psychology. I wasn't sure I wanted to go to college anymore, but I'd paid for a parking pass that was good for the whole year. I decided to stay for another quarter and figure it out. Eventually, someone approached me about taking an independent study course for German and then I gave up my mechanic plans.