“Don’t do it” How following your dreams is making the world a terrible place

Twenty-five years of teaching has provided me with a long view into the lives of adolescents.  Social Media, in my case LinkedIn, has allowed me to see what becomes of many of my former students.  No longer are we casting out to the universe and hoping that our teaching inspires - we can now see what actually happens.

 

There is a pattern.  As with any pattern, there are outliers, but the vast majority do fit into it.  My best students, both in terms of academic success but more so in terms of actually being open enough to learn, take their idealism, and strive to somehow make the world a better place with their lives.  They do this by engaging in the noble but thankless professions of environmental study, social justice work,working for non-profits, and teaching, just to name a few.  In these places they (we) do our best to chip away at the basic social injustice of the world. 

 

At the same time, my most selfish students, with or without much academic promise, seek money and power, and often achieve it.  They are not repulsed by the contradictions, the hypocrisy, the sheer ugliness of the machine they serve willingly.  There they wield this power in the service of the status quo perpetuating the very injustice that my other students are fighting against.

 

Politics can be an ugly business.  I know.  I left a budding career in politics because I felt dirty and cheapened by the fundraising, the double talk and all the rest.  I chose the perceived “nobler” role of being an educator because I didn’t want to compromise some of my own values.  At the time, I felt good about my decision; eschewing the money and power for my values.  I felt selfless.  But I have come to realize how completely selfish my decision was.  I was unwilling to do the truly hard work of politics.  

 

I see this same calculation in so many of my progressive students.  Digging into economics and political science doesn’t have that romantic notion that being a social worker in a sea of misery does.  Writing policy just isn’t very sexy.  They just want to follow their dreams of how they imagine that they can make the world a better place.

 

The problem is that the people who follow their “dreams” end up being a part of the overall problem one way or another.  For my power hungry students, they follow their dreams, and end up in positions of power that they use poorly.  For my progressive students, they “follow their dreams” of trying to make a difference but end up marginalizing themselves and being pawns of the aforementioned group.

 

Don’t do it.  This individualistic notion that we can all follow our dreams is potentially the most damaging message we send to the next generation.  It assumes that the system is sound which it obviously isn't.  It assumes that other people will do the hard work that you are unwilling to do.  It abdicates responsibility for running the world to the power hungry.  As we can so plainly see, this is a recipe for disaster.  The bubble has burst.  There is no place to hide.  The world will not take care of itself. 

 

Try to imagine being that 50ish person at the height of your chosen underappreciated profession.  You have worked hard all your life and it hasn’t made a whit of difference.  The children you so lovingly cared for, the art you so lovingly made, the people you so lovingly helped with their benefits.  They keep coming back, much the same, year after year.  The passion you once felt begins to subside into quiet desperation.  You keep lying to yourself that it matters as you yell at the TV news and pour another glass of Pinot Grigio.

 

Yes, we need good people in every profession.  This means we need people who care about social justice leading companies, government agencies and the military as well as the schools and social service agencies.

 

It seems to me that the most gratifying work is work where we feel useful.  No matter how much I may love history, economics, or anthropology, it is just a means to an end.  My love of it is because it allows me to figure out how the world became such a fucked up place.  It was useful, for a time, for me to be a full time teacher (and student) as I was able to figure some things out.  But now I am on the outside looking in. I may have been passionate about it at one time for its own sake, but the passion has faded and now I don’t feel useful and have no real drive.  I was pretty selfish about not wanting to engage in politics.  

 

However, it is not too late for me, or you.  I volunteered to make phone calls this election cycle, and ofcourse, donated what little money I could.  I have been trying to get “back in the game”.  It is hard, and I know that I will have to start all over again.  But I do have a decade or more of productive work left in me.  Time to start.