Young people should be encouraged to pursue long term realistic goals rather than seek immediate fame and recognition Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the pos

As a teenager, elders would constantly preach sermons to me about how it was “high time” I started planning for my future, that is, a very practical, lucrative future. I would simply wander off into my own thoughts, dreaming of crowd surfing and signing autographs, no matter how whimsical the concept seemed at the time. Only now do I understand the perspectives of the adults who surrounded me. While I understand that there may be limitations to this argument, I strongly agree with the prompt’s suggestion that the youth should be encouraged to pursue realistic, long-term goals for two reasons.

To begin, personal satisfaction is often the result of years of hard work and goal setting- fame and stardom may provide one with immediate gratification, but that happiness is fleeting, dissipating as quickly as it arrived. In fields like academia or politics, people are more likely to reap the fruits of their labor following several years of experience. An undergraduate Neurobiology student bogged down by her foreign language, and humanities credits will, most likely, not be able to make a shocking breakthrough by investigating Schizophrenia Loci. Under the guidance of senior researchers and professors, and have accumulated many years of experience, she will be able to successfully complete her dissertation and obtain her Ph.D. on the Variants of Schizophrenia Loci, and eventually, go on to become a renowned professor herself. Thus, long-term goals, needless to say, take a long time to achieve, but in doing so, one can ensure their lasting success, should they put the hard work into reaching them.

Further, even if we were to assume that one is the most sedulous workaholic, success is largely determined by a complex factor: luck. Even more so when trying to achieve fame, luck is not so easy to come by - if it were, everyone would be famous and so the concept of stardom would be entirely diminished! Consider Hollywood pop singer Shawn Mendes, who has sold millions of records worldwide at the age of 22. His rise to fame can be attributed to his “accidental” discovery on Vine, a social media app, by the manager of a large record label. Having his talents recognized amongst the hundreds of thousands of equally talented artists on the app was, indeed, fortuitous for Mendes, but for every successful pop star, there exists a myriad of struggling musicians. Ultimately, these musicians may be unable to pay their rent, wishing that they hadn’t turned down the desk job they were offered after graduating college.

It should, however, be considered that it may be worthwhile in some scenarios to seek instant fame. Take sports, for example, athletes tend to be at the apex of their career when it just about begins - they are healthy and perform their best when they are young and fit. Working hard to seek recognition at the onset of an athlete’s career would allow for him/her to benefit from the resources immediately available, to further advance his career prospects and potentially expand his talents to other fields. Kobe Bryant, for example, was a basketball player drafted to the NBA immediately after graduating high school. His success as an eminent basketball player followed shortly after, and he retired comfortably at 38, an age which most peoples’ careers haven't even taken full form yet! Following his retirement, he set up a non-profit organization, made music, and handled several business ventures as well. Though he was conventionally “successful”, we cannot assume that everyone who seeks similar success will be blessed with a similar fate.

In conclusion, I do strongly agree that planning for the future and creating realistic goals are more worthwhile than immediate fame, as this is what is most profitable for the average person. It is impossible to predict who may rise to stardom, but if you are one of the lucky ones, unless you put in the effort to remain relevant, your fame may likely be short-lived.