I did use the example from the lesson helps online, starting out with the question of what they might say to a friend considering dropping out of school and counting on a future husband to support her. The girls in my class had some fabulous answers to give, and no one said anything even remotely resembling “so you can attract a RM”. I have a former neighbor who did drop out of high school, and whose own mother did indeed say to her, “It doesn’t really matter, you have a pretty face, you’ll get married and it will be fine.” It was not fine. Six kids and one divorce later, with not even a high school diploma, it was not fine. (I wasn’t planning to, but I actually did share this story with the girls as we discussed that question.)

Mez, thanks for sharing and for the great example.

Thanks for sharing — I’m embarrassed by Mortimer’s unkindness to you.

Some people work hard and live frugally, but through no fault of their own, they simply never amass enough money to invest. Sometimes those solid blue-chip investments are stolen by crooked people. Sometimes the stock-market lottery crashes down on even the most conservative investors. Sometimes people decide not to invest in portfolio pieces that they find to be morally in-congruent with their values- for example, some boycott companies that rape the environment, profit from sweat shops or child labor, evade taxes, outsource American business, benefit from multi-level marketing, are associated with certain political lobbies or policies, etc. etc. etc. I’m not saying that your money was invested in such causes, I’m just saying that there are some who ethically oppose portfolio pieces, regardless of how stable they are.

I’m glad your daughter doesn’t have debt, but you can’t teach poor or middle-class girls that they can do the same thing and you certainly don’t have the right to insinuate that it was because three generations of wealth were more clever, thrifty, prudent, etc. Granted, you did manage the money well, but you had money to grow money. Setting girls up to believe that if they were just as clever, they could live the same way is not only FALSE most of the time, but it also contributes to guilt, shame, “holier than thou” mentalities, and class issues. Stop it.

Our girls need support not only in obtaining their educational goals but in making sure they feel the “whole spectrum of human endeavor” is open to them. Thanks President Hinkley! I want to second the person that said a predominant “just in case” rhetoric is one of the most damaging ways in which we frame educational and career endeavors for women. It makes anything but one path feel like a plan B and even that if and when a women decides to enter the workforce it is due to some sort of family system failure. I think it also tacitly denigrates families who choose to have spouse at home (often by major sacrifice) by not honoring the full agency of their choice and stokes the incredibly unproductive mommy wars. Additionally, the often accompanying message that a college degree alone is an actual effective “just in case” plan is simply untrue in today’s economy. Your lesson honoring the multi-faceted reasons for education is much healthier.

Caregiver roles and other relentless demands on women often mean they must be innovative with regard to employment. As pointed out by other commenters, having no work experience after earning a degree or leaving a career to be a SAHM often makes entering or re-entering the workforce difficult.
However, women who use their education and talents to run their own businesses may have a better opportunity to adjust their work schedule to be compatible with their current life situation (with or without a spouse and/or dependents-children or aging relatives).

In 2015, Silicon Valley Women (SVW) hosted Women in Small Business workshops. The dozens of creative women business owners who shared their knowledge and experience was impressive. SVW welcomes all women (regardless of religious affiliation) to participate in our events, however, our one minute promotional video happens to feature LDS women:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsj3SbGje1s

Note that the women in this video all have families in different stages: some with young children, some with teenagers, and some with an empty nest.

Also, I find the references to women in healthcare fascinating. I wonder what the girls would say if you asked them to talk about receiving healthcare degrees and then being a complete or periodic SAHM. For example, by accepting a position in med school, you are taking a career away from approximately 100-400 other students who would have liked to, but will not be physicians. (Many are equally competent, it’s just that there are only so many seats in med school.) Is it ethical for you to take one of those seats and then be a SAHM? If you become a physician, you will take the Hippocratic Oath and have a duty to alleviate illness and pain with the training you were privileged enough to earn (on the backs of hard-working tax payers and the lifetime commitment of many others.) Is it ethical to work only part time? 6 hours a week? Likewise, as a midwife, an NP, an RN, you can provide a service to the community with specialized skills that others cannot. What was Emma or Zipporah, or Mariam doing with their own children when they were called upon to save lives and ensure public health? Isn’t this argument true for just about every other skilled profession? Which roles should we expect to exchange in a community and which roles should not be out-sourced?

I commend you Julie for showing positive role models of both modern and biblical women. This is going in the teaching file!

And this organization might be worth a look — legitimizing and allowing people to catalog continuous learning efforts: Degreed.com

I also really like what Mary Cook has said about this — about how education made her ‘more fit for the kingdom’ in every role she had — at home, in the Church, in her work, in the community. She gave a talk at a graduation, but only notes were available rather than the text itself. Her personal story that she shared there is mirrored pretty closely here:
https://www.lds.org/new-era/2009/04/more-fit-for-the-kingdom?lang=eng

In the 90s I taught a lesson on the flip side. I had the girls write down what they wanted to be when they grew up. At the next mutual night I brought them stats showing how much they would make (one girl wanted to be a “supermodel” so I used AVERAGE modeling wages, heh) and they had to work out a budget. Kind of hilarious, but eye-opening.

That said, when we talk about “how important their contributions are” for women OR men, I don’t think there is anything more important than raising human beings.