If Hirshman thinks high-paying careers lead to more human flourishing, I invite her to spend a day as an associate at a big law firm.

It thus seems likely that more American women are forced to choose between high-paying careers and motherhood.

Economists say the 1998 salaries were shaped largely from trends that existed a generation ago, when women were less likely to work outside the home or to pursue high-paying careers.

Steve Horvath, 25, has given up a high-paying corporate career and a $500,000 condo to be a campus missionary, and he doesn't have much initial success at fund-raising.

These professionals do not want to give up their satisfying, high-paying careers.

To the Editor: You wrote about financially secure people and seemed to imply that the "daughter track" offered an escape from high-paying careers that were no longer satisfying.

As one student who had been headed toward a high-paying career in the hospitality industry said, "Working side by side with a homeless man has changed the fabric of my life."

But for a select few, it can also be a ticket to a high-paying career in Japan.

To make the degree financially worth it, you have to aim toward a pretty high-paying career.

More young people are being lured into high-paying careers by fantasies of wealth rather than a commitment to their work.