Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Passion of the Adam
Growing up, one of my English teachers gave me a small noodle of advice:

"Study something you're passionate about in college, then when you get a job, you'll be paid to have fun."

Going through college, I've heard many of my friends say the same thing to me. That was their plan and, Allah willing, it would work.

Only recently--now that many of my friends are graduated or graduating--am I starting to doubt the conventional wisdom of this belief.

For one thing, what's your "passion" based on in college? Barring a few exceptions, it's based on fleeting interests and very limited past experience.

(Someone who had a great math teacher might think they're passionate in Math. A couple courses later and, well, not so much anymore.)

I used to be extremely passionate about economics. Now I'm only mildly interested. I used to hate programming. Now I know two languages (though Justin might challenge that).

I guzzled through philosophy books a few years ago. Then it got mundane. Psychology hit me with a fury last year and already I have to wipe the cobwebs off my old books. And don't get me started on literature.

I could go on and on...

Passions are flightly animals. Please don't stake your life on them.

(One exception is if you're extremely, extremely talented in a particular passion--always the very best. Then you can get away with it and help mankind.)

So, because I'm tired of writing this post, what do I recommend to people going to college soon?

Major in something you like OK and have some talent in. Something that will give you real skills and impress the socks off people you meet. Something high-power.

Then use your electives or a second major to experiment with your passions.

Remember, there's no guarantee you'll still be passionate about that subject 10-20 years from now. And then you'll be stuck.

(Of course, that's not to say you should stake your life on doing something you hate that's "safe." Heck no! But that's another blog post...)
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