The American Dream, Dulled : Medical Careers Rank High in Poll Even as Parents Downscale Other Expectations for Their Children

Nobody said they wanted their child to be an astronaut, movie star or President of the United States. Nobody dreamed that grandly.

Nobody answered artist or homemaker either, perhaps because those careers seldom pay well. But the appeal of such icons as Drs. Kildare and Marcus Welby lingers in Orange County, even with what looks to be the downscaling of other expectations people hold for their children.

One in four parents, for example, said they want their kids to become physicians, nurses or other medical workers, according to The Times Orange County Poll.

But plenty of folks worry whether they can provide for their families long before college comes around. One in five worries a great deal about having enough money now to cover their children’s basic needs such as food and housing. And 40% said they are deeply concerned about providing for their kids’ future needs, such as college.

Some child-advocacy movement leaders say this is part of a stunning national sentiment: Americans now believe that, for the first time, the next generation will be inheriting a future less bright than their own.

And the same goes for Orange County.

Only half of Orange County parents believe their children will be better off financially than themselves, the poll found. And most think their children will have to move away from Orange County to find good jobs.

“I think parents have the same dreams for their kids that they always had, but they are less confident than they were as to the fulfillment,” said Dr. Richard Steyer, founder and president of Santa Monica-based Children Now, a nonprofit California advocacy group on policy issues.

“And children still have the same dreams. Those kids still want to be, like I did, a right fielder for the Yankees. . . . But parents are less optimistic and idealistic about the viability of the broader American dream, the dream that says each generation shall leave a more prosperous and more generous society. And I think people are very aware of that on a very visceral level, and it makes them pessimistic.”

Linda Melville, a mortgage loan underwriter who lives in Lake Forest, says her three daughters will need to become professionals of some kind to survive.

“They have to be doctors or lawyers to guarantee success,” said Melville, 43. “I think the middle guy is just going to go downhill. If you’re not in the top salary range you will not succeed. My daughter has friends who have graduated from big, four-year universities, and they are still starting at the bottom financially. I think it’s the devaluing of degrees.”

One of Melville’s daughters is interested in being a lawyer, a second aims to become a psychologist and the third dreams of being a schoolteacher. A 21-year resident of the county, Melville does not expect to grow old here. She pays $1,400 monthly rent and says her kids have already been priced out of the area.

“Of course, we all want our kids to be doctors and lawyers,” she added with a laugh.

Not so Howard Pfeifer. With two children at home, Pfeifer is among the 1% who thought professional sports would make the ideal career for his children. “Baseball player,” he added.

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Second in the poll at 17% was the category of engineer or scientist. It was trailed only slightly by the broad-sweeping “business executive” answer. One parent chose farmer.

Arnold Grimm, 38, of Garden Grove fell into the 11% of parents whose career choices fell into the “other” category. Grimm said the profession of music teacher would be the best occupation for his children. Well, his daughter, anyway. She is 14 and already plays clarinet, bass clarinet and the string bass.

For his son, an Eagle Scout, Grimm says the 16-year-old is interested in marine biology or a job at Sea World or the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, but who knows if that will change?

“I had dreams when I was his age; I wanted to be an astronaut--this was during the Apollo program--but I didn’t make it,” he said with a chuckle. “I got as far as an associates degree in science. Not that I’m not successful. . . . I’m a process technician at an oil refinery.”

Based on the gloomy economic climate, not the talents of his children, Grimm believes that his children will fare worse financially than he has. And he thinks his children will have to move out of Orange County for work, his daughter if she decides to play in an orchestra, and his son should he pursue a career in marine biology.

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Members of the children’s advocacy movement say they are not surprised that parents seem less confident in the future holding equal promise for their offspring. They say such beliefs have been mounting over the past few years, finally to crest last fall with the presidential election.

Sid L. Gardner, director of the Center for Collaboration for Children, a policy group at Cal State Fullerton that works with public and private agencies on how to better deliver children’s services, said he was not surprised by The Times poll’s findings on parents’ disheartened views of their children’s future. He said some of that inevitably has to do with the cost of living here.

“The other thing that comes to mind is the extent to which parents are dealing with what we sometimes call the broken-promise issue,” he continued.

“That is (that) there used to be an implicit promise to a kid going through school that if you play by the rules, you don’t get in trouble with the law, you stay in school and you don’t become a teen parent, there is a job waiting for you at a decent living wage. That promise is no longer true, and the kids know it. And so we have a covenant with our children . . . that has been broken. And the line that if you play by the rules society will reward you, is a lie.

“I think that’s a reflection of the times . . . and private sector occupations that people understand to make good money, and (I feel) . . . a sense of sadness that so few people mention teaching and . . . a sadness that only 4% think that government and the public sector generally is a place they’d like to see their kids. It’s still about making money, although a doctor is understood to be a combination of a helping profession and one that makes lots of money.”

Due to health reform, he said, the profession has grabbed “a lot of publicity lately. Those $200,000-plus salaries on the average have been given a lot more public attention, so that’s in the spotlight. Lawyer I would suppose is down lower than it would have been recently, and I assume that means a loss in prestige that may reflect a partial glut of the role of lawyers in the ‘80s.”

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Says Mark Baldassare, director of The Times Orange County Poll: “As to doctors or medicine. . .maybe in spite of or because of all the talk of health care reform, people are viewing medicine as a lucrative field.

“People in Orange County are viewing the medical field as one of those areas that is still growing, whereas in other (industries) we’re talking about downsizing and cost-cutting because of competition.”

“Being a family doctor, that’s the only way I can see them making an income,” said Otieno Jackson, 34, of Garden Grove of his three children’s future employment. “People will always need doctors and medical people; it’s a part of life. If you don’t have it you can’t survive.”

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Orange County Poll was conducted by Mark Baldassare & Associates. The telephone survey reached 750 Orange County adults during a four-day period ending June 6. Using a computer-generated random sample of listed and unlisted telephone numbers, the poll contacted residents on weekday nights and weekend days. The error margin for all respondents is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. For the subgroup of parents with children at home, the margin of error is plus or minus 5.5%.

Children’s Future

The allure of the medical field is alive and well in Orange County. More parents would like their children to have a career as a doctor or other medicine-related professional than anything else. Engineer/scientist and business executive are the only other two occupations even close in parental aspirations. However, most believe their children will have to leave the county to achieve adequate job opportunities.

* At this point, what do you think would be the best occupation for your children to have when they grow up? Doctor/medicine: 25% Engineer, scientist: 17 Business executive: 13 Lawyer: 5 Government official: 4 Teacher: 3 Other: 11 Don’t know: 22

* Do you think Orange County will have adequate job opportunities for your children, or will they have to move elsewhere to find good jobs? Will have to move: 49% Adequate O.C. jobs: 39% Don’t know: 12%

Financial Outlook

Despite widespread financial concerns, most parents think their children will have greater economic security than they have themselves. However, those from more affluent households are less likely to hold this view.

* Do you think your children will be financially better off or worse off as adults than you are today?

All Less than $50,000 Parents $50,000 and more Better off 53% 60% 46% Worse off 29 24 34 Same 7 3 11 Don’t know 11 13 9

Windfall Investment

College savings are at the top of the list of things Orange County parents would do with a $250 gift for their children. Reflecting problems with tight budgets, nearly the same percentage say they would use the money to buy clothes. Parents with lower household incomes would be more likely to use the money for college and clothes than those with more financial resources.

* If someone gave you $250 to spend on your children, which of the following would you be most likely to do with the money?

All Less than $50,000 Parents $50,000 and more Save for college 32% 34% 29% Buy clothes 29 35 27 Buy books 17 14 19 Pay for music lessons 8 6 10 Buy toys 2 1 3 Other 12 10 12

Source: Times Orange County Poll

The Embattled Family

* SUNDAY: Exposure of their children to sex and violence depicted on television and other entertainment media is the worry parents cite most often.

* MONDAY: Most Orange County residents are content but feel much less secure about their finances than three years ago, a concern that’s bleeding into other areas of their personal happiness.

* TUESDAY: Moms and dads fret about different issues, and this may reflect not only traditional male and female reactions to threats but also may explain a gradual evolution in the roles of each parent.

* WEDNESDAY: Divorce, remarriage and economics may be reshaping many families, but three-fourths of Orange County parents still believe their clans are close, especially young families.

* TODAY: More people still believe medicine will be the best job path for their children but, shaped by perceived dark economic winds, they have scaled back other expectations for the future of their offspring.