והוי זנב לאריות, ואל תהי ראש לשועלים
[Strive to] be a lion's tail rather than a fox's head
אבות ד:ט"ו

A Yiddishe Mama syndrome assures that the child will have a "good" degree that Mama has determined before the he was born. Not all of the many jokes and stories about "My son the doctor" have a happy ending. Some children who are pushed into studies that they don't want will reject those studies later in life and go on to what they really love. Those who remain in unsuitable fields that the parents selected may remain unhappy for the rest of their lives.

A good parent should be interested in the child's ultimate happiness rather than in the prestige of having a son or daughter who meet their goals in life. The child should have be able to make decisions about his own future and plans or goals - as long as they are legitimate and suitable for a proper society. Those goals do not necessarily have to be respectable by the parents' elevated standards, and they do not have to be those in which the child earns the amount of money that the parents deem necessary.

Yes, parents should direct their children and help them plan their lives. However, that planning could be in the direction that the child wants. In that way, the child will live a happy life and do well in his own selected field.

In most cases, it is better to be the tops in a less prestigious field than to be a failure in a more prestigious field.