We run the risk with any of these extremes of allowing numbers and the actions of a great many others who've come before us to control our destiny. And
despite what anyone says, I do not believe our individual destinies are able to be looked at as a mathematical formula.
Rather, I am reminded of that scene in Jurassic Park when Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) attempts to explain chaos theory by showing the unpredictability of determining which way a drop of water will roll off a human fist. There are simply too many variables from air, to movement, to surface irregularities, to the size of the drop to make any kind of prediction. Life is just like that. All the odds and statistics in the world will still mean nothing when that next drop is placed and follows its own unique set of circumstances to the right, left, front or back.
Yet time and again I see my students in their senior year trying to work out the formula as they face the wide open future before them. They look at numbers because they believe these hold safety for them. They consider what schools will offer them the most money, what the rankings of schools are, which career path is listed as "up and coming", what the average test scores of freshman are, and how much the median salary of those employed in various fields is now and is predicted to be in the future. They look at numbers and statistics, working out the magic formula which will lead them to = success.
Are they wrong to do so? Not at all. I often provide, post and encourage my students to consider these numbers and statistics as they are looking at their future path. I am certainly not so naive as to say that these numbers don't matter and aren't part of helping them determine their path. They certainly are and should be. My concern is when decisions are made on an equation built of these numbers alone.
Just as each drop of water will find its own way, through its own unique circumstances, each student too is unique and what is right for one, or forty-one, or a hundred and forty-one students who went before them does not guarantee it will be right for this one. There are other variables which must be considered as we chart our path into the future, and they are much more difficult to "nail down" in a report or with a number. Students must consider which environment will allow them best to grow and what fields of study appeal not only to the logic of their minds but also the passion of their souls.
These are scarier questions for students to tackle because they require knowing oneself and honesty in the face of many many expectations of others who all have their own opinions on the matter. Here, once again, we face the risks and rewards of letting go of all the expectations and advice of others and forging an individual path onward. The students who go forth after their passion, despite the odds, run the risk of a barrage of "I told you so's" and the insistent pull of self-doubt. They remind me of another movie hero… Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) from Star Wars who faces not only the doubts and fears of his shipmates when he plans to fly into an asteroid field, but also the ready statistical odds, spouted by the robotic calculations of C3PO who informs him his odds of success are 3,720 to 1.
"Never tell me the odds!" says Han Solo… and perhaps this is advice we all should take to heart. Han is not unaware that the odds are against him. He can see that as plainly as anyone else. But a decision must be made, and in his heart he feels this is the way to go. Talk about taking on a risk! Would it be the right choice every time? For every pilot? Probably not! However there is no time to sit back and weigh every option to the nth degree. There comes a time when a decision must be made and the very best we can hope for is that when that time comes we make a choice with head, heart and confidence all in tow.
As my students go forth this spring to new colleges, programs, cities, jobs, military commitments and destinies, I will never be that robotic voice repeating the odds in their ears. I will hope to instill in them rather the hopefulness expressed by our family's motto: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!" ~ Henry David Thoreau. Their paths may take many twists and turns, stops and starts, but truthfully the confidence to move forward is what is most necessary. For, in the end, the success I wish upon all my students is also not something that will ever be defined by the numbers of salary calculations or advanced degrees or bars and stars on a lapel. The success I wish for them is as different to define for each as the curves and tunnels in the human heart. It is success that for each drop may go right or left, back or forward, and may never even know the extent of its reach, as ripples created by one drop grow outward wider and wider than even the individual can see.
This spring as our students step forward to begin their lives on their own, never tell them the odds. That time has come and gone. Rather applaud and encourage their confidence to go in the direction of their dreams, and believe in their courage and passion. Our optimism for their future is truly the best gift we can give them.
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