As I Understand Passion#
I understand passion as something you need to discover by actively putting in effort. Effort into experimenting with different things till you find that one thing that just clicks, or if nothing clicks, you should go with what you’ve put most hours into and enjoy doing the most.
Fresh out of high school, I had decided I didn’t want to get an engineering degree after learning the harrowing tales of engineering students in India. Instead, I wanted to provide myself with skills and rely on them to break into IT.
My experiments with finding that “one” thing ended after a few years of back & forth…until then I was just really trying to do the best I could with whatever guidance I got (none whatsoever).
I really do think that it is a privilege to be able to “find” or build your passion, not something everybody is able to afford. But my days have led me to this sad truth that not enough people value passion or appreciate it, or spend the energy themselves to find it.
As a student myself, I’ve known many other students from various fields. The vast majority of them chose their Bachelors out of no particular reason, nor did they have the intentions of carving a path out of it.
- “It just happened to be the college I could afford.”
- “I don’t know, it sounds it has something to do with computers, maybe I’ll take up a few courses to build my skills.” (Never did)
- “Closest to my house, attendance is not mandatory.”
- “Will use it to apply for Masters in the USA.”
- “My father is a Civil engineer, he wants me to be one as well.”
All of this to set the context for why I chose not to do a Masters overseas, while it became everybody else’s move right after graduating.
Master’s Degree just for the sake of it#
Among these 82k people, I’ve known at least 10 people who flew to the USA this year…that isn’t a very big data set (statistically speaking) for me to forge these opinions, but I’ll do it anyway.
A lot of people that I know who have chosen to do a Masters, usually do little to no research in the program they choose. They completed their Bachelors and are simply unable to find appealing employment opportunities here, so they do the next best thing. A Masters somewhere overseas like Australia, UK, Canada, USA. Some take into account their shot at securing a PR (Permanent Resident), others look for what country has the best money-making policies for students (like hours of work, $s per hour) etc.
To start your process of flying overseas for your Master’s degree, you will approach a consultancy. Some of them do charge a fee for their services, which include, applying to universities, writing your SOP for you, coaxing you into doing your Masters at a particular university in a particular program (incentivized by universities), fake the funds in your bank account that you’re supposed to disclose during your visa filing etcetera, etcetera.
My consultancy advised me that I take a course at a reputed University (high fees) so I don’t get flagged by the visa authorities and that I can “switch” to a more affordable university after I land there. I was also informed that I could make decent money working odd jobs to pay for the hefty college fees I was about to pay. Some take out loans, others are supported by their parents.
I am not trying to take a shit on these consultancies, a million dollar businesses; they’re providing valuable services. Nor am I saying that people shouldn’t do it, if they can find better employment opportunities and living standards elsewhere, they should go for it. But it does make me quite suspicious about the whole academic system. All of it just seems too methodical.
I’ve personally known guys who were passionate about pursuing something before they flew off for their Master’s. It landed them in blue collar (unskilled) jobs that made them decent money (money they’d make in India in a skilled profession). Naturally, they lost interest in that thing they were excited about. Now, their plan is to make as much money as possible doing those menial jobs before they’re deported (there are contingency plans to avoid this) or if they get lucky a PR is handed to them. I know this is totally fine, they can come back home to set up businesses or whatever.
See: How recruiters in India use false promises to lure students to Canada - The Fifth Estate - YouTube
What I find most disconcerting, however, is the loss of Identity Capital.
Identity Capital#
In her book, The Defining Decade; Meg Jay describes Identity Capital as:
Identity capital is our collection of personal assets. It is the repertoire of individual resources that we assemble over time. These are the investments we make in ourselves, the things we do well enough, or long enough, that they become a part of who we are. Some identity capital goes on a résumé, such as degrees, jobs, test scores, and clubs. Other identity capital is more personal, such as how we speak, where we are from, how we solve problems, how we look. Identity capital is how we build ourselves—bit by bit, over time. Most important, identity capital is what we bring to the adult marketplace. It is the currency we use to metaphorically purchase jobs and relationships and other things we want.
I hope I am not too bold in assuming that folks who follow this “path” that a thousand others are also on are hardly building discernible Identity Capital.
It takes years for people to really figure out what they want to do in their lives, for the fortunate few who do identify where their passion lies, why should they be underemployed for 2 crucial years of their twenties doing something that was part of their ticket to the USA? I am not taking a shit on blue collar jobs, all kinds of labors deserve dignity.
I don’t even have that much faith in the Academic system. A lot of the times, a degree is just reduced to be just another criteria in a job description.
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
— variously attributed1
Ultimately, it’s not about what makes you the most money, but going on your path doing what you love. Most people spend a significant amount of time trying to find what their calling is, but those who have already figured it out, money should be the least of your worries. Granted that not having to worry about money is also a privilege not everybody has.
While the tone and mood of this article may come across as disgruntled, my sincere intention is to emphasize how the current state of the education system has stifled individuality. Ideally, we should have more people pursuing careers in science or other fields that truly interest them. However, we have inadvertently fostered a culture of shortcuts, which has extinguished countless passions in pursuit of material success. This widely followed “template” has dismantled childhood dreams and thrust people into a relentless rat race.