Value of an education

On the train home yesterday, there were three girls seated a few rows in front discussing the futures and dreams. I didn't go out of my way to eavesdrop, but they made it easy to overhear as they all seemed rather enthusiastic.

Listening to the conversation, it seemed the girls were still getting to know one another, but their acquaintance was due to them all attending the same dance college in the city area. So their discussion was about their backgrounds and dreams. None of them had finished high school and thus the only thing approaching tertiary training was going to be their dance training.

They each expressed an earnest passion to travel the world, working as a dancer as they enjoyed all the excitement of moving from country to country. Sounds nice, until you realise that although it isn't impossible, it unfortunately is more likely to end in tears.

You could blame movies, as many movies revolve around people chasing and achieving dreams that we all share. But perhaps it is because they also haven't had a wiser person around to guide and mentor them.

There's nothing wrong with pursuing a passion, but one needs to be intelligent in recognising levels of risk and being able to have a fallback, or being able to recognise when you may have to let the dream go.

I've had dreams of running my own business, and even got quite serious at one stage about running my own go-kart track business. To the point of beginning TAFE business training courses, and completing a draft of the business proposal and revenue projections to submit to the bank for funding.

In the end though, I weighed up risks and realised that there wasn't room in the market for it to succeed. People love the stories of underdogs that beat the odds and become success stories, but what they gloss over and ignore is the fact that countless more fail than the ones that succeed, and its often not due to a lack of effort. And in some cases, someone who succeeds will do so at the expense of another.

Basically, it isn't all as golden as the movies would make it out to be, and not everyone can win.

You need a back up plan, and these girls with the dreams of being a dancer and seeing the world did not have one. If you read the interviews with successful Hollywood actors, many of them share the same story of beginnings which involve living from hand-to-mouth, while going to every audition to try to make it.

So if only a few make it, imagine how many didn't. And if they don't have another career to turn to, what happens then?

My point? If you have a friend or family member who has an exciting dream, but one with risk or a limited lifespan (e.g. you can only be a professional soccer player while your body holds out), then be the voice of wisdom in their life. Don't extinguish their dream, but help them to at least think about a plan B, in the event that plan A doesn't happen.