TED Talks talker and founder of #BeSomebody delivers a passionate speech about passion and becoming a "passionary" to my local high school (Stephen F. Austin HS) and the students beautifully call him on his bullshit.
You'll want to watch the video.
The kids are alright!
In his speech, Shaikh talks about the importance of struggling to reach your passion. He cited his own struggle when he left his luxury apartment and "75 percent of his stock and equity" at GoPro and moved to Central Texas, where he launched his idea.
"I spent $250,000 of my own money," Shaikh said. "And when I raised money, I was moving back in with my parents at 35 years old. I had a BMW. I sold that. Now, I drive a 2004 Ford with 270,000 miles on it that doesn't start in the cold weather. There's a lot of people in a lot worse situations than me."
Shaikh says he rented an apartment in Pflugerville where he lived without any furniture except for a whiteboard that he and his brother built by hand because it was cheaper.
Throughout the two months that followed the Jan. 5 assembly, teachers and students conveyed their disapproval of the speaker’s assembly message. They said Shaikh’s speech contained sexist comments and trivialized the idea of struggle. They pushed back against Shaikh’s advice not to have a “Plan B” when “Plan A” is to pursue your passions.
"I understand his message," says McCoy Johnston, a senior at Austin High School. "It's hard to follow your passion when you put your passion on hold, but if you throw away everything just to follow your passion and it fails, which I know is kind of a pessimistic way, you have nothing."
On Jan. 9, students in the Austin High Media Arts Program, called KAHS (pronounced "chaos"), posted a parody video poking fun at the assembly and its speaker. They pretended media teacher Gil Garcia was convinced by Shaikh’s message, coming back to the classroom with the new phrase #BeKAHS.
"I spent $250,000 of my own money," Shaikh said. "And when I raised money, I was moving back in with my parents at 35 years old. I had a BMW. I sold that. Now, I drive a 2004 Ford with 270,000 miles on it that doesn't start in the cold weather. There's a lot of people in a lot worse situations than me."
Shaikh says he rented an apartment in Pflugerville where he lived without any furniture except for a whiteboard that he and his brother built by hand because it was cheaper.
Throughout the two months that followed the Jan. 5 assembly, teachers and students conveyed their disapproval of the speaker’s assembly message. They said Shaikh’s speech contained sexist comments and trivialized the idea of struggle. They pushed back against Shaikh’s advice not to have a “Plan B” when “Plan A” is to pursue your passions.
"I understand his message," says McCoy Johnston, a senior at Austin High School. "It's hard to follow your passion when you put your passion on hold, but if you throw away everything just to follow your passion and it fails, which I know is kind of a pessimistic way, you have nothing."
On Jan. 9, students in the Austin High Media Arts Program, called KAHS (pronounced "chaos"), posted a parody video poking fun at the assembly and its speaker. They pretended media teacher Gil Garcia was convinced by Shaikh’s message, coming back to the classroom with the new phrase #BeKAHS.
The kids are alright!
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