Graduation

I recall the first time I went through the process of applying for university. I was mildly shocked to discover they wanted me to say what degree I wanted to apply for. "Can't I just choose where I want to go, and decide what to do when I get there?" No, it seemed, I couldn't. I followed the advice of the careers teacher (and the instructions of my Grandpa) and chose electronic engineering. At which I turned out to be a spectacular failure, averaging something like 28% in my 1st year exams. There, er, wasn't a second year...

One thing I seem to have kept hearing in recent months is that a great many kids these days have only one ambition - to be famous. Not famous for being a popstar, or an inventor, or a writer, or a footballer - just "famous". It's easy to slip into decrying the inexorable slide into the lowest-common-denominational mire and rampant social disconnection. However, it occurs to me that there's something else to be noticed here, and it's this: even planting a kid in front of the TV for hour after hour doesn't defeat their spirit. They still have that urge to progress - to graduate into something beyond their childhood experience.

They might not be reaching much further than the end of their nose. That's what my teachers and my Grandpa did - I was good at maths and sciences, so engineering of some sort was the obvious choice. That didn't work out, just as not everyone's shot at fame will work out. But even if things do happen which restrict, misdirect or even stall it, forward movement is our natural state.

That's really cool, because it means the battle isn't really about finding the wherewithal to make progress, it's about finding where you want to aim at. It might involve looking beyond where you're used to looking - or even within where you're used to looking - and that could be the hard part. But the point is that when you find it, you can ride your natural forward impulse.

(I eventually did find the degree for me - history. A subject I gave up at school when I was 13. It fitted me like a glove, and I had a fabulous time doing it.)