Why it is important to dream big

All they know is that they’re doing what they’ve been advised to do — going to school, concentrating in class, doing the homework — and still there is no guarantee of light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a glittering future.

Taking it seriously was never part of the average young person’s way of thinking, but it’s being forced upon them, because the days of gliding through your education and parachuting into a soft, grassy field of abundant jobs are long gone.

The relentless drive to acquire qualifications has resulted in a changing of expectations, but the levelness of the playing field remains the same. Once upon a time a university degree was a fairly unusual accomplishment, but once the floodgates had opened and in many parts of the world university had become the norm for students of reasonable if unexceptional ability, employers started insisting that a degree was essential for even an undemanding role in their company.

And they can do that now because so many young people have that group of letters after their name.

If you don’t have a degree, it’s just an easy way for them to narrow the field down. You won’t even get past the secretary who sifts through the CVs to save the boss the trouble.

Unfortunately, as the standards of the exams have dropped and it has become easier to gain certificates, the world may be full of better qualified people, but that does not mean people better equipped to do the job. You find some with a degree in English, for instance, who still have no real mastery of the language. There are few things more disappointing for a lover of language than to meet a BA in English who talks as if he or she did the course via Whatsapp and whose terms of reference are more Kardashian than Dostoevsky.

The world is being dumbed down as many of the naturally gifted accept the unwritten mantra that “my ignorance is as good as your knowledge”.

That makes the youngsters who do know what they’re doing stand out –— but only when you dig past the diplomas.

Role models are different nowadays, anyway. While Henry Ford, Richard Branson and Bill Gates were bright young men who followed their dreams and built their success gradually, we’re now in the age of the instant tycoon, the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, who was barely out of nappies when he and his pals had the bright idea that became Facebook. It’s the modern equivalent of the rags to riches story, but starting with a comfortably- off student rather than a street urchin and exploding into financial orbit in the blink of an eye.

Young people today have more options to pursue, or perhaps to daydream about, than ever — even if some are unrealistic. When so-called celebrities get money thrown at them for doing nothing of value, contributing zero to the welfare of mankind, why should a teenager make an effort to become a valuable member of the community? In the case of the Caribbean nations, sport used to be a way out.

The great cricketers who rose from these small places to become internationally lauded were doing what the socially disadvantaged youth of the wider world had been doing for a century and a half.

But is the West Indies’ lack of success since the golden era of the 1980s due to the potential stars pursuing other, equally worthwhile avenues? Or is it because the current crop just can’t be bothered? That would be foolish, because there’s money in it now like there never was before. Just ask Chris Gayle, whose primary interest seems to be financial gain rather than the glory of his extended country.

He’s a trailblazer of sorts, who has made it acceptable for cricketers to go off and earn a fortune in the Indian Premier League and other money spinning ventures when it clashes with the test matches and one-dayers and T20s that the rest of their compatriots are fulfilling.

Gayle and his multinational colleagues might be mercenaries, but their pursuit of filthy lucre isn’t doing anyone any harm — unless you count cricket-lovers who would like to see him batting for the national cause, rather than the less gifted substitute who is, at least, glad of the opportunity (and the cash). Careers teachers have always been on a hiding to nothing, slapping down the starry-eyed and encouraging the pessimistic.

But we must all follow our dreams and aim high or we’ll never get anywhere.