Passion

Can you build a school around passion? Most would say not. Passion cannot be standardized, tracked or developed. It does not allow us to compare and contrast results, or measure how students are achieving compared to their counterparts. We can however, create schools around systems. We can create and measure these watered down systems with guarantee-able outcomes. The expectation that all students will know and understand the quadratic equation; be able to analyze literature and write persuasive essays. At some point, we all have to face reality and realize that the world works according to these systems, that have little room for an individual’s passion. These systems create order, stability and standardization. Passion creates an unsettling force that cannot be measured, taught, or standardized. 

I thought I had the answers. At least that’s what they taught me in school…

I had a conversation with someone who’s work schedule was dictated by passion. As a dignified employee of an IT firm, his only job responsibility was to complete projects by agreed upon deadlines. On some days, he spent from dusk to dawn on international digital infrastructure projects, conversing with clients from the confines of a small home work space, knowing that tomorrow was his and his alone. The next day he awoke and spent two hours lifting weights, two more surfing waves, two more grabbing coffee with other self- employed friends, and only one on his “set project.” Incidentally, he managed to fulfill every deadline. 

Where did the persuasive essays and quadratic formula show up in his work day? 

You see, it’s the entrepreneurs who represent the biggest threat to established systems. They defy the standardization of “work place attire.” Ditching the suit and tie, for jeans, a retro shirt, and aviator shades, they dress according to their own standard. They defy the set schedule that dictates where they need to be and who hey need to report to, and instead manage their own. They defy the standard path to wealth by bypassing wealthy CEO’s and instead seeking out socially responsible angel investors. They defy the top down management system of past generations and invite everyone to be a stakeholder, including the naive intern from the local community college.

Which leads me to my next question: What if we taught our students to be entrepreneurs? Or more specifically, how to pursue their own passions?

What relevance would schools have then?

As educators, we cannot be afraid of today’s standard for success. We are no longer living in a world where people are powerless, or dictated by circumstance. Societal barriers have been removed. Hell, today you don’t even need a college degree to become a multi- millionaire. All you need is an idea. Ideas can catapult you to success, and more importantly, they can bring down the “old boy’s clubs” that used to rule our past; the clubs comprised of rich parents and Ivy League degrees.

Post college, I was told I could do three things with my history degree: Teach, research, or go to law school. But I had an idea. What if what I wanted to do in life had nothing to do with college, degrees, or what I studied. What if I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life when I was 12 years old? When I was organizing students on the playground; telling jokes; captaining my tennis and soccer teams; and peer mediating when friends had disputes. You see, those were greater indicators for what would make me happy than my college degree. They were the things I chose to do with my time without any overarching schedule or expectations.

 

I’m hoping to provide my 12 year old students with the same opportunity. To create a place that frees them from the confines that direct them to a life confined by rules and systems. One that allows them to explore; allows them to fail, allows them to question. Allows them to be WRONG; encourages them to be wrong, so they can get closer to being right.

Then perhaps I can make the case that schools should be built around passion.