You will start training for that factory job when you are in sixth grade, like it or not.
Many of you are familiar with Mike Rowe of Discovery show Dirty Jobs. These days, he's promoting a new show he's created, and spending a lot of time responding to fan mail via Facebook posts. About a year ago, Rowe gave a TED talk, in which he stated that the worst advice he had ever been given was to follow your passion.
He recently doubled down on that statement when he responded to a fan on Facebook who disagreed with him. Give Rowe this—he's very eloquent in his response, but also very wrong.
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For a few of Rowe's gems, please follow below the fold.
How about these?
Today, we have millions looking for work, and millions of good jobs unfilled because people are simply not passionate about pursuing those particular opportunities. Do we really need Lady GaGa telling our kids that happiness and success can be theirs if only they follow their passion?
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Every time I watch The Oscars, I cringe when some famous movie star – trophy in hand – starts to deconstruct the secret to happiness. It’s always the same thing, and I can never hit “mute” fast enough to escape the inevitable cliches. “Don’t give up on your dreams kids, no matter what.” “Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have what it takes.” And of course, “Always follow your passion!”
I disagree with Rowe on this one for a couple of reasons. As the youngest child in my family, it was as if I were raised by different parents than my siblings were. By the time I came around, 13 years after my sister, my parents had already been beaten down by life. They grew up in a different era, their formative years passed during the Great Depression, their young adulthood shaped by World War II. My parents endured hardships that most of us can only imagine. My dad never said much about his lot in life, but after a couple beers he would open up about how he had wished he had stayed on the farm. I don't know if farming was his passion, but I think I can say for sure that his passion was not driving a milk truck for a living. My mom was an artist—although she would never say she was. But she had an artistic eye, whether it was creating art for the walls of my bedroom, or decorating wedding cakes. Art was her passion, and I'm not sure she ever realized that it was.
I made the mistake of not following my own passion until much later in life. I wonder where I would be had a chased my dream of being a writer when I was in my 20s. Instead of following my dreams, I listened to people who said what Rowe is saying, that you should follow the path of being a "productive member of society." Want to know the worst advice I ever received? Get a job, work hard, and support your family. I've worked since I was 12 years old, from paper route to fast food worker, from soldier to salesman, from salesman to IT professional. All the while my passion was burning inside of me, going nowhere, and I was miserable in job after job, wondering what might have been. It was not until I was in my 40s that I started pursuing my goal of being a writer.
It isn't just Rowe who is saying this. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, during his 2014 State of the State address, said:
Students in other countries have great success identifying skills and interests early in school, so they can take right courses for a career path.
In the state budget, we funded Academic and Career Plans for our schools to help kids as early as sixth grade start preparing for their career.
So many employers tell us they would take on more work and create more jobs, if they could only fill the positions they have open today, particularly in manufacturing. We need to remind our young people about the valuable careers available in our skilled trades.
So according to Rowe, our children should not follow their passions, and according to Walker, our children should be training for a manufacturing job when they are at an age when they have not even discovered their own identity.
Want to know the second worst advice I have ever been given? "Why in the hell would you want to write for a living? You will never make any money at it and you have to write all of the time. You would be better off going into IT." My day job in IT pays the bills, but it is not a fulfilling career. It does nothing for the soul. Instead of encouraging children to select a career path in sixth grade, we should be introducing them to the arts, music, industrial arts (shop classes), and encouraging them discover their passions. That is not saying that opportunities to change should not be available. If you are 5'7", the NBA is likely not a career choice for you; however, if you have the passion and the ability, you should be able to have the opportunity to chase after the dream. After all, it worked out for Spud Webb.
If they find their passion and follow it they may fail, but at least they will have tried. Telling a child, or an adult for that matter, not to follow their passion is wrong, and trying to determine a career path at such a young age is criminal. What kind of society will we become if we stop dreaming? Who will reach for the stars? Who will create the great works of art, the next great American novel? Who will be the next Elvis? Who will figure out the next breakthrough in energy creation? If we don't follow our passions, if we don't dream, we fail as a society.
Following your passion and doing what you love is not about a job, it is really about a life journey. Everyone has different talents, everyone has different passions. Some people were born to write, others were born to weld. But everyone should have the opportunity to discover what they were born to do and then have the ability to chase that dream. They may fail, they may have to change course. But at least they will never look back and wonder, "What if?"
Don't let Scott Walker fail our kids. Please donate $3 now to help Mary Burke defeat Scott Walker
Voting by mail is convenient, easy, and defeats the best of the GOP's voter suppression efforts. Sign up here to check eligibility and vote by mail, then get your friends, family, and coworkers to sign up as well.
