"Stop Stealing Dreams"

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Seth Godin’s:  "Stop Stealing Dreams" “Ted Talk” exhibits a direct correlation with the ideas and reflections expressed in Bellah’s Habits of the Heart.  Bellah expands on the view of the individualistic perspective in America focusing on two key aspects detailing the difference between one having an expressive individualistic outlook in life versus one getting stuck in a utilitarian world. In comparison, Godin emphasizes two similar themes directly related to the workforce in which:

“The jobs of the future are in two categories: the downtrodden assemblers of cheap mass goods and the respected creators of the unexpected.” 

For many, utilitarianism was seen as a form of material success in which one must focus on the good, what actions are most useful in trying to maintain an increase of the good, while simultaneously decreasing the bad. However, this style focuses on a formula in which there is a need in the economy for (fill in the blank), with a path to follow on how to get there.  

In similarity to Bellah, Gordin relates this more so utilitarian path to that of education in school today stealing students dreams everywhere.

 

Gordin implies  students today are measured based upon test scores, what they memorize, and their ability to be obedient and not stray off the path by following “the downtrodden assembly line” in which they go to school in order to find a hourly waged job in which they have to obey the orders of someone higher up, etc. Gordin focuses on the role of” Universal public education who’s soul intent merging forward from the industrial revolution was being directed towards training people to behave, to comply to the teachers commands, and to fit in ultimately developing the skills needed to be able to work in the factory settings.”  Education was revolving around creating a system of interchangeable people because  factories relied on the basis of having interchangebale parts.

Gordin notes: “In 1960, the top ten employers in the U.S. were: GM, AT&T, Ford, GE, U.S. Steel, Sears, A&P, Esso, Bethlehem Steel, and IT&T. Eight of these (not so much Sears and A&P) offered substantial pay and a long-term career to hard- working people who actually made something. It was easy to see how the promises of advancement and a social contract could be kept, particularly for the “good student” who had demonstrated an ability and willingness to be part of the system.”

This obedient factory line approach of following a route solely for the reason that it will lead to a particular job is not the approach education systems should have today because people are putting their dreams aside and avoiding all together what they are truly passionate about because their ultimate focus right now is to just get a job. The art of individualism and happiness is completely lost within this life format.

Today, a more so expressive individualistic approach is necessary for students to adapt to the economy around them. No longer is there a necessity for people to be forced to fall in lines of the “downtrodden assemblers of cheap mass goods” of fifty years ago as detailed by Gordin.

Gordin’s second category of jobs for the future falls along Bellah’s expressive individualistic approach in which there’s an emphasis on doing things for your own personal enjoyment and leisure versus following the obedient paths others construct around you. Expressive individualism and cultivating the self to become a better person by doing the things one personally wants to do, ultimately leads to a lifestyle enclave. Within the lifestyle enclave Bellah reports a separation seen between the self directly from certain groups like family, church, work, etc. in which one can fully stand back and gauge who he or she is on a personal level based upon what their preferences are and what desires/ passions they ultimately seek to fulfill by self-adapting to and constructing their own moral environment in which they can measure what is good to do and what roles to act on. Bellah reflects upon this self-chosen enclave in which people gather together, with cultural similarities developing circles based upon common interests in individualism. versus the interdependence of collectivism often times seen within an inclusive community in which one is shaped by following the norms of those around them in order to not stand out.

“Here’s the alternative: what happens when there are fifty companies like Apple? What happens when there is an explosion in the number of new power technologies, new connection mechanisms, new medical approaches? The good jobs of the future aren’t going to involve working for giant companies on an assembly line.”

Ultimately, Gordin believes the new jobs of the future in demand will be searching for those individuals who are prepared to embark on their own path, offering insight, design, and their own unique creative abilities to take the company where it’s never been before. The technology is available offering plenty of different techniques in which one can help fully develop the self and shape who they want to be based upon the personal habits they choose to follow versus what they are measured via school standardized test based settings.  

I full heartedly concur with Gordin in that, “The future of our economy lies with the impatient. The linchpins and the artists and the scientists who will refuse to wait to be hired and will take things into their own hands, building their own value, producing outputs others will gladly pay for. Either they’ll do that on their own or someone will hire them and give them a platform to do it. The only way out is going to be mapped by those able to dream.”