Telling kids to "follow their passion" and "do what they love" is horrendous advice

But I have more than one love. If I did pharmacy as a hobby I'd be arrested, so why not study something I love doing, and do things I love as hobbies as well?

I get what you're saying but at the same time you need these kind of people. After all, where would all the sport stars, musicians, artists and actors come from if they all give up their passion for a nice steady job at the post office?

This is a thinly veiled Arts Vs STEM thread. Liberal arts students have always ended up working in Costa Coffee. STEM graduates are always employable. In the UK and elsewhere and indeed we should encourage students to pursue them.

If pharmacy is genuinely your life passion then great, because there's job stability and a good salary, potential for business, etc there. You just killed two birds with one drug overdose



Most people like that are naturally incredibly talented, and their passion was taking them places way before they even needed to think about how to make ends meet. For the average person with a passion in something, this is not the case, and nothing more than mere fantasy



Strong ethnicity to career choice ratio

Most people like that are naturally incredibly talented, and their passion was taking them places way before they even needed to think about how to make ends meet. For the average person with a passion in something, this is not the case, and nothing more than mere

Essentially a lie perpetuated by certain individuals in privileged first world countries, which ultimately misleads the youth into thinking that there exists a job out there, perfectly tailored to whatever irrelevant and useless "passion" they may have. Only those people who have had to struggle to simply make ends meet and would have gladly accepted any work as long as it meant they could provide for themselves and those closest to them, would truly understand how bull**** and dangerous this kind of thinking is.

The hard truth must set in, the fact that the job market is cut-throat and ruthless as it is, and that no one is going to pay you money to do something that you "love" because what you "love" doesn't benefit anyone and simply won't take you or anyone else, anywhere of use.

Our jobs are a means to an end, a means to live comfortably and provide for yourself and family. Now am I saying you should go into something you despise, just for the money? Not at all, you must at least find some interest in a field relating to your personal skills and attributes. And the majority of people should, with a little insight, be able to find a stable and well compensated job that they at least have some interest in, and won't despise doing for the rest of their life. You may very well learn to highly enjoy it, and the experiences you gain from it. And worst case, you can quit it and look for other work, if you really do end up hating it. But stop spending your days blindly looking for a job that doesn't exist, because it achieves nothing.

That "passion" of yours, should be nothing more than a hobby. Something you look forward to doing in your personal time, whatever it may be, just for your own enjoyment and fulfillment and not for monetary value. This is the real world, and your paycheck comes from diligent hard work in a profession that is valued and required by society, and your aim should be to succeed in that regard to the highest extent. You make your own happiness

Thoughts?

This is a thinly veiled Arts Vs STEM thread. Liberal arts students have always ended up working in Costa Coffee. STEM graduates are always employable. In the UK and elsewhere and indeed we should encourage students to pursue them.

I think your OP sounds pretty cynical.

I'll tell my kids to follow their passions and to try to always do what they love. I'm sure they'll still grow up well-rounded enough to know that that may not be absolutely possible in the end, but it'll still be worth trying.

I certainly won't be impressing upon them that they need to grow up and move into a traditional 9-6 job, making money for somebody else, wasting their life away just to cover the bills.

There are plenty of amazing jobs available to you, provided that you're really good at the ~passion~ in question.
e.g. Call of Duty -> YouTube partner.

It's about deciding whether or not you're naturally good enough to rise above the competition.

This. Enjoy being a corporate drone if you want, that's not for me and I certainly won't be telling my children to be one

Respec

Are you taking the piss?

I'm dead serious! Was talking about this on my own thread earlier.