Do people still have dreams? (college, high school, computers, courses)

[irothste]

I have noticed lately that few of the students I teach, even the bright ones, have reasons for studying beyond
"Tt makes good money"
"My parents want me to study this"

Back when I was in school, which wasn't THAT long ago, there were bona fide nerds. Kids who studied what they studied because they actually thought it was interesting. Maybe they wanted to build cars, program computer games, thought the human body was fascinating, wanted to be a writer, get involved with politics, whatever.

Has our society become so obsessed with "being cool" and "making money" that these kids are disappearing?

Do people still have dreams beyond "have a big house" "make lots of money"?

[Tricky D]

I'm living mine.

[Bette]

Yes, they still have dreams. I do, too, even though my husband and I are in our late 40's, early 50's. We will be starting over in the next 24 months and will have about 15-20 years to do it.

[sean98125]

What else would you expect, irosthe? Our kids are growing up in a world where they are confronted with advertising that convinces them that they are a lesser person if they don't use a certain product. They spend their days being entertained by electronic media in the forms of TV, computers, MP3 players, and they never really get a chance to be in a place that is still and silent where their young imaginations can stretch and roam. Even the books and toys they play with when they are very young make noises and have certain ways that they are meant to be used.

We don't want our kids to have their own imaginations because you can't market to that. We want them to watch Dora because we have a lot of Dora products that we're trying to sell. We want them to check their Facebook pages all the time because we get paid for every page view by the companies that advertise there. We want them to text their friends as often as possible because we can charge them for each text message. How on earth can we make money on the little consumers if they are playing make-believe in their backyards?

Kids today do have dreams. But they are brought to you by Nickelodeon and Disney and Madison Avenue. They aren't brought to you by common stories that we all share, or by a sense of adventure and wonder, like they used to be.

[LilyLaLa]

Sean--very insightful. I'm afraid it hits the mark, and that's so sad.

We have no television for this very reason, and we live in remote country where kids really do play outside most of the time, and don't bother with Facebook pages. But I'm aware that if my children decide to move to the big city when they've grown up (which they'll probably feel compelled to do, as we don't have a large farm to hand them pieces of), they'll be socially retarded there, by how I raised them....hopefully they'll appreciate the good parts!

I'm living my own childhood dream, of being a novelist. My daughter dreams of working in animation and making movies. My son dreams of being a bus driver, because he loves cars and vehicles and well, riding the bus! LOL. None of us are worried about money, and I hope that lasts.

We live very simply but comfortably, and I hope hope hope my children grow up free from greed and away from the clutches of money. It's addiction for some and a false god; I hate to see what it's done to some in my family---and they think WE're the fools. Oh well.

Good thread! (reps all around!)

[EclecticEars]

//www.city-data.com/forum/educa...vy-league.html

I have dreams. Big time. I guess I need to get off this computer so I can bolster the pursuit of achieving and living them!

[victorianpunk]

It's not fair to generalize an entire generation based on what you see from a few: if that was the case, I would be under the impression that all people who where in their early 20s in the 70s did too many drugs and had unplanned children, as that sums up most of the 50-somethings I know.

I'm 27 and want to be a psychologist, not because of the money, but because I'm good at talking to people and I can make a living helping people. Like Robin Williams in the movie "Patch Adams" said, " You (a doctor) treat a disease, you win, you lose, but if you treat a person, you win, regardless of the outcome" And that's what being a therapist is, treating a person.

Also, my friend's cousin is fourteen, converted to Buddhism, and wants to be a monk and take a vow of poverty and spend his whole life helping people.

Not every young person in this age is materialistic, just as not everyone who grew up in the 60s/70s was an open-minded hippie who did drugs.

[fierce_flawless]

My kids have dreams, nothing to do with money. My son wants to be a video game designer. I know, it's typical, but he's really serious about it. He's very artistic and has animation and computer graphics courses at his high school that he excels in.

My youngest (10) has it down to 3: 1)archaeologist, 2) chef 3) attorney... but even the attorney one has nothing to do with money and everything to do with justice. Ahhh youth.

Anyway, not all of us 30-somethings are raising our kids to be materialistic sheep. Many of my kids' peers meet that definition though, it is frightening.

[MStant1]

How many of us actually found the subjects taught in high school just riveting? Keep in mind quite a number of students won't discover subjects they are completely interested in until college.

Also to assume that it is a new phenomenon for large numbers of people choosing majors because its what makes them the most money or its whats their parents want them to do is rather naive. Its nothing new. You are just suffering from "Backinmydayitis". Every generation thinks the next generation is doing it wrong.

[irothste]

Thanks for the words of hope. I needed to hear stories of young people who have goals.