What Should My Son Study?

Dear Rabbi and Susan,

I need kind guidance from you if you can assist or help me enquire from your community. My son is going to University early next year and has started university applications but he’s a bit unsure of what major he wants to study between engineering and medicine. Even though Mathematics & Physics are his favourite subject, he is equally very good in Chemistry and Biology.

In the light of AI and today’s disruptive technological landscape, I was looking for a professional in any of these fields to guide on a future-proof course and specifically what area a teenager should major in for the future.

I am most grateful 🙏

AA

Dear A.A.,

While we are moved by your confidence in us, if we were able to define a “future-proof” course, we would relabel ourselves as prophets. Sadly, we can do no such thing.

As we regularly teach, change is constant, and perhaps even speeding up. The world is changing rapidly and unexpectedly. Perhaps today’s pace of change even matches the upheaval in society precipitated by the Industrial Revolution. Your son sounds like a bright and hardworking young man, but entering a field today is dissimilar to entering one fifty years ago. Whereas one used to begin a medical or engineering career with a relatively clear picture of where the path would lead, that is not the case today. Your son could become a doctor or an engineer and after starting his career repairing bodies or building bridges, he could easily transition into the finance/corporate side of operations. And he will still be doing just fine. Our point is that we don’t think your family can go wrong with either of those specialties.

When we speak of the 5Fs that we should all be working on, the F of Faith includes virtues such as flexibility, resilience, optimism, and tenacity. Your son will need all of these traits no matter which field he enters. He will need friends and family to support him and for him to support when times get tough. He will need a realistic eye on what services he can offer that people will pay for, and he will need a healthy relationship with his own body.

Both engineering and medicine are practical fields that are needed in a functioning society. They are needed as well if and when things fall apart. If he doesn’t have a bent leaning him toward one direction, understanding how much it will cost to qualify for a degree in time and money is worth analyzing. Unfortunately, knowing what the exact worth of the degree will be in five or ten years is much harder. But one thing is clear and that is that either qualification will serve your son well.

We feel confident assuring you that neither doctors nor engineers will be replaced by artificial intelligence. AI will become an increasingly useful tool for professional engineers and doctors, but it won’t replace them any more than it will replace plumbers and concrete foundation builders in the foreseeable future. In terms of what you call ‘futureproofing’ your son, this will largely depend on those spiritual ‘Faith’ qualities your family imparts to your son and which we described above.

It is challenging to keep moving forward when the future is unsure. Building knowledge and character to carry with us in our toolbox will pay dividends, more than trying to predict what the golden path will be. With a supportive father, a good head, and hard work we envision your son being successful despite whatever twists and turns he will encounter on his way.

Exciting times ahead,

Rabbi Daniel and Susan Lapin

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