Passion. I have been up and down and around and around this discussion with colleagues, students, parents, and others for over two decades now. While some out there abhor the use of the word “passion” when talking to high school students, I see it as an instrumental component of a particularly helpful model for seeing the purpose of the high school years. I hope to explain this in the following post.
To start off with, I think that “passion” gets a bad name, at least in part, through the university application process. On one hand, there are universities that ask students to expound upon their passions in essays and the like, the implication being that each student should have one, and, more problematically, suggesting that there is something wrong with them if they do not. On the other, students sometimes articulate their current interests as “passions” so as to try to convince admissions officers (or themselves) that they are a good fit for a particular field of study because they already are possessed of a passion for the topic, no matter how advanced, removed from the life of a high school student, or esoteric it might be. I concede that it bothers me just as much when I read an essay prompt put out for an application that assumes passion is the norm for high school students as it does when I read a student essay about some student’s lifelong “passion” to study some arcane or specialized subject that reflects more insecurity than confidence or commitment to the subject. These are admittedly challenging facets of this concept.
Of course my experience may differ from the broader perspective, but my twenty-plus years of working with students on their post-graduation plans has left me suspicious of the contention of passions being typical of high school students. Consequently, I have explored this idea over the past 10 years or so at three different schools, on three different continents. At each high school where I have worked, I have engaged students with an annual survey, one question of which inquired about this concept of passion. The survey is always conducted at the conclusion of the university application process, ostensibly therefore minimizing some of the posturing that students sometimes pursue. When asked if they have a passion as they graduate high school, roughly 90% of the students I have worked with have shared that they do not! Annually these numbers fluctuate some, but in this span, the highest percentage of seniors who claim to have a passion has been 14% with the lowest being 8%, typically landing around 10%. These samples have been collected from a boarding school in Ohio (USA), a day school in Taiwan, and a day school in Senegal, and there is little deviation from these findings despite the tremendous variance in schools and student population. Furthermore, to me, it feels about right!
Let me just add that when examining those students who claim to have a passion, the numbers are disproportionately reflective of areas that the students have been able to engage with through their studies and extracurricularly. (I make this statement in counterpoint to those various, occasional claims of student passion in esoteric, specialized fields with which the student has had no opportunity for formal or informal exploration.) In particular, students intending to major in the arts (fine arts, photography, dance, theater, film) are disproportionately represented. Beyond that, as a colleague who has examined these results with me has cited, the other main category of passions reflected are pure/core subjects, including math, science, literature (as opposed to their more specialized cousins, which we might assume would appear, of engineering, computer science, physics, medicine, journalism, etc). This speaks to a common point of concern of a student claiming to be passionate about a subject that he or she has never actually studied -- and cannot typically study -- in high school. It begs the question of how they might know and leads us back to that point of wondering what pressures we (or our culture/society) puts on our kids to feel that they need to have a passion in order to engage with this university search process.
What is passion?
In engaging in discussion with a colleague about this, it was asserted that perhaps some confusion for students comes from their misunderstanding what passion actually is. This certainly may be the case. For our purposes, we define passion simply as a “monopolizing pursuit.” The key to understanding this term is to realize that this definition is incredibly subjective and individualized. Put differently, what passion means for me might look different to you. Generally speaking, though, passions are activities or concepts that we are drawn to and are motivated to pursue. Often people talk about the experience of pursuing their passion, which is a “flow” state where they lose track of time. Still, though, this is a nebulous concept, especially with high school students, and passion looks different to different individuals.
The reality is that very few students actually have or find a passion. In fact, I know plenty of adults who do not have a passion either. Although the purpose of this piece is the plight of high school students, these realities lead many out there to demonize the word “passion” and the pursuit thereof. However, one point that I think this group overlooks is a secondary point: passions can be cultivated. For every kid I know who fell in love with something the first time they encountered it, I know someone (often adults) who came by his or her passion through constant return to something interesting; over time, these interests developed into expertise, greater interest, and, yes, even passion.
Pursuit of Passion Model
All of this leads inevitably to the model that I have found to be helpful in guiding high school students. Much to the chagrin of some opponents of passion out there, I do recommend that students pursue their passion. However, in my way of thinking, this proposes two different paths.
Path #1: You have a passion. If you have a passion, then you need to do that thing. Find ways to continue to do it, not at the expense of other components of a healthy life (e.g. exercise, sleep, school, friends, and continued exploration, etc) but in your free time. Find new and novel ways to engage it. Use your free time and summers and vacations. Talk to people about your passion. Find your people! Find ways to read about your passion. You don’t need to spend a ton of money to do this well; stay within your means and be creative in how you pursue your passion. Continue on this way and one of two things will happen: one, your passion will continue to grow and sustain you, or, two, you realize that this thing is not your passion. In this latter case, you should then revert to…
Path #2: You don’t have a passion. If you don’t have a passion, then you need to actively search for one. This involves some exploration and some commitment. In regards to exploration, you need to try new things. Join clubs, sports teams, activities, etc. Try new classes. Consume a variety of different media, including books, articles, movies, YouTube videos, websites, etc. Keep looking to find things that pique your interest. And in regards to commitment, keep on doing some things that you find interesting but that you wouldn’t necessarily call your passion. Keep developing competence and even expertise in these areas. By combining exploration and commitment, one of two things can happen: one, you find a passion (in which case, see Path #1), or, two, you keep searching and growing.
So, in this model, students are encouraged to pursue their passion OR to find their passion. The difference may be semantic, but this has been well-received by students and parents alike. It has been helpful to collect the data about who actually finds their passion in order to share and to remind everyone that this is all a part of the growth process. In particular, I think that it helps students to stick with some things they enjoy. Furthermore, asking additional questions about, for example, which pathways they have explored (#1 and/or #2 above) as well as some overall feedback about how the student feels this model has helped them grow, have proven to be particularly helpful.
What does this look like in the application?
I hesitate to share this out of fear that it might be misconstrued and mis-applied, but the reality is that this model does assist with the university application process. To be clear, though, it helps because it facilitates good, healthy, appropriate human growth first and foremost, regardless of which “path” a student finds him or herself upon. One additional benefit is that this model allows students to see and then articulate their own journey in a thoughtful and deliberate way that makes a lot of sense to admissions offices. For example, in many cases, a student on Path #1 with a passion -- who has had this passion for some stretch of time -- will naturally reflect this passion in the application process: through the resume, activities, coursework, and often awards or recognition. This type of applicant is commonly seen as being “pointy.” On the other hand, students who have genuinely engaged with Path #2 and who have searched for a passion will similarly reflect their trajectory on their applications by sharing the many ways in which they have explored the world around them. This type of applicant is commonly called “well-rounded.”
Truthfully, both types of applicants -- pointy and well-rounded -- are valued in the admissions process. While I must admit that not all universities are the same in how they read candidates, it is my professional experience that there are only a handful of institutions that are really looking for pointy students with passions instead of well-rounded students without passions. In the end, this pathway ought to be seen as a criteria for a university search: if you have a passion, then you should be prioritizing how you can continue to pursue that passion in college; if you don’t have a passion, then you should not be looking at institutions that champion pointy applicants and instead you should be looking for places that can help to continue your search.
In the end, while discussing this model with a handful of university admissions officers, I was left with a couple takeaways with which I want to conclude. First, the point of the model is not to find a passion but to encourage individual growth and exploration of the world. With the exception of some majors at some institutions that have a limit on the number of seats in the program, universities are not necessarily looking for a particular passion when they find it in a student; they are aware that these things may change. Instead, though, they value pointy applicants for the fact they reflect the capacity for passion, that a student knows how to capitalize on their strengths and attributes. According to at least a handful of college reps, this is important. Second, though, my colleagues from universities have shared that they appreciate this model because it helps to steer students away from a particular archetype: the student who has never experienced the world around them. Particularly in competitive applicant pools, there are plenty of students with good grades but without a developed sense of self. It might be the thing I appreciate most about this model: while none of us can ever have a fully developed sense of self, we can always learn more about ourselves, the world around us, and our place in it, and this model assists us with this.