By Anjali Nayak
At the age of 17, I achieved the highest honor any American could possibly strive for—I get paid to do something I love.
Two years ago, I started my first job as a part time music teacher, eager to teach the language I am fluent in and the rules I have learned to live by. Every Thursday and Friday, I aid my students in expressing themselves through sounds and sculpted silence. Our lessons are in preparation for the long awaited Fall recital, where students showcase their newfound talents to friends and family. But performing music is not about the end result, it’s the little things. The stumble, the fall, and most importantly, the resilience. As a teacher, I live for the “Eureka” moment, when my students strike gold and master a new song or skill.
Packing my bag, I make sure to keep picks, strings, lollipops…and tissues? Too often, I find myself awkwardly comforting my students, moments after they have broken into tears during their lessons. My students are victims of the prodigy mindset—the belief that the only way they can be successful in a field is if they are a ‘natural’ at it. Obviously my students aren’t going to be good at a new instrument the first time they try it, but they live with the expectation that it is the status quo. The beauty of hard work and intrinsic motivation goes completely ignored.
The entire concept of someone being a natural at something is simply untrue and often boxes individuals into a specific field of academics and extracurriculars. There is no such thing as a STEM kid or someone who is naturally gifted in just humanities. Instead, there are people who have different passions that they find the intrinsic motivation to work on, and get better at. There is no such thing as a prodigy, stop boxing your kid in and expecting them to have one thing they are naturally the best at.