Maybe it's time

I had a client yesterday who is facing the results of the business model she created on the computer. She researched and made projections regarding what she could charge for the services she wants to offer and what it would cost to run the business - and no matter how she juggles the numbers, she can't cover her costs. It isn't viable here, with our current economic circumstances.

I think this was something that she has considered might be the case so she wasn't completely surprised. I reinforced for her that she did learn skills that she hadn't thought she could learn and she saved a whole lot of time, worry, money and grief by figuring this out before she risked everything she has, but ... it is still the death of this particular dream in this particular city.

In taking the path that led her to this point, she has to face two things and I mention them here not because she is unique but precisely because she is not.

First, she is up against how we in our culture value the next generation. I think that we're conflicted about how we educate our kids and we're in denial about what this could mean to our futures. I thank God that I'm not a parent this time round and that I don't have to deal with the experience kids have when they go to school. Are schools designed to teach basic skills to make our kids employable, and that's it? And for how long might they be employable? Or are we trying to turn out well rounded adults who can lead our society into our own old age? Will they be equipped?

Some of you are in a better position to answer these questions than I am. I do recognize that education isn't a business and so there is some irony in using a business model to find out if she can run a kindergarten on her own. The operative point here is 'on her own'. No (wo)man is an island and all that!

I know quite a few people inside the educational system who believe that it has a ways to go before it meets their idea of what's nurturing, motivating and interesting for kids. There: I've softened my position from what I really wanted to say because I felt I was being too black and white, without enough facts. I wanted to say that we pretend not to but we treat our kids the way we treat the environment; as if we don't have a future to be concerned about.

I don't know, maybe kids are hardy and they survive in spite of what we do to them in school. Maybe. And maybe not.

Anyway, my second point about my client is that she is also facing the possibility of having to give up her dream about who she is. She has identified herself as a early childhood teacher, and a good one, for most of her career. It's what she loves and what she is really good at. Now she is getting to the age when many people will be considering retirement and financially she can't. Who is she now? What do you do when you have no pension and no savings and you can't do what you believe you are meant to do in your heart of hearts?

What does one do when to do what seems 'practical', what society 'offers', feels like it will destroy one's soul?

The conclusion I'm coming to is that we have to get creative and think outside the box. If thinking outside the box were easy, more people would do it. I think we only do it when the alternatives are soul-destroying. Maybe it's time for our whole culture to think outside the box and see what we come up with. Maybe people like my client, and like me, are on the leading edge of the wave.

Any joiners?