There’s a point shortly after smart, idealistic, motivated young people graduate college that they realize that, in fact, what the world is missing is not their particular great ideas and passion for driving change, but in fact it’s a  complicated place where the ability of one person to make a difference is, for the most part, fairly limited.  My sister has just hit that point in her career:

Somewhere in the last four months, my framework for teaching changed. I’m no longer teaching within the context of ending educational inequality. I don’t think about the achievement gap. “Our nation’s greatest injustice,” is not what keeps me going. I know that half of the elementary school students growing up in low-income communities won’t graduate from high school, but I don’t think about them anymore. I think about the 22 second graders sitting in front of me waiting to hear what happens to Pinduli.

When this happens, the best ones narrow their focus, retrench, and try again.  The jaded quit and spend time finding themselves, maybe in Africa or graduate school.  The least fortunate make the terrible decision to go to law school.

Categories: Careers, Education
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