The ultra-marathon swimmer Diana Nyad has written that a poem she came across on a summer's day jolted her into deciding to attempt her famous 110-mile open-water crossing from Cuba to Key West. "Tell me, what is it you plan to do/with your one wild and precious life," wrote the American poet Mary Oliver. The lines are an exhilarating call to action. But I recently realized that I have been rerunning them in my head wrong, inadvertently replacing ''impassioned'' for ''precious,'' a huge mistake that I assume I made after internalizing the self-help industry's robotic calls to find happiness by ''following your passion.'' High school students, who are just starting to think about the future, are also told all the time to just ''find your passion." As Mary Oliver knew, this is not helpful advice.
The truth is that most juniors and seniors don’t know what their passion is. Some do, and those going to well-funded high-schools have ample opportunities to extend themselves and experiment with extra-curricular activities. For many students, however, school is less about pursuing deep interests and self-knowledge than it is about completing a set of required courses that may constrain them from discovering what really makes them tick. Even students who excel in a particular subject may regard it as a special aptitude or strength rather than something that is truly animating and that they are keen to pursue at university or in life.
This is natural, as much research shows that passion is a secondary phenomenon that comes as the result of exploration, trial, and error. What comes first is exposure and curiosity, and the transition from trying something to becoming passionate about it usually takes time. Mary Oliver knew this. Students, if they don’t, need encouragement to take time out of their busy, programmed lives to explore. They also need assurance that, despite the hype, not having a passion at 16 or 17 or 18, or ever, is normal, not a reason to feel inadequate or stressed.
Liberal arts colleges and courses operate on the premise that students need to be exposed to the world to find their place in it, and so are designed to invite exploration. Students at these schools normally choose a major only after a first or second multi-disciplinary year. The majority of the world’s universities, however, demand that students commit to a major or course beginning with the application they submit in high school in
their senior year. This model puts specialization and career preparation first.
Where does passion fit in? It may not. The second model, in particular, treats the career path as a choice, not a feeling, and makes no assumption that passion plays a role. Even the liberal arts curriculum seeks to kindle knowledge, if not necessarily passion, as the basis for pursuing a degree. There is room in both models for educational experiences and career choices that are exciting, challenging, necessary, and deeply satisfying.
Yes, your life is precious. Passion is extra.
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