Mizz G asked: In college I have studied business management, European politics, advertising, philosophy (four of these one year each), and performing arts communication (am in junior year, will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communication next year). I failed my first four attempts at college not because of laziness or Iack of commitment; but because I made some ignorant choices in my personal lives that required a lot of cleanup, wrecked my relationship with my family, and compromised my mental health. In between I took a year off to take care of myself and make amends at home, got back into college, and gradually pursue the dream again.
The dream has been in my heart practically all my life: I want to set up the first performing arts high school in my country that provides hard working, talented teenagers the opportunity to test the waters of professional showmanship within the safety of a responsible educational institute before they’ll have to make up their minds if this is what they want to pursue in tertiary education (e.g. conservatoires or performing arts college) or for life. At some point in my life, I want this dream to actually come true, but I don’t know yet where to start.
I’m 24 and have been in college since 16 after accelerating two grades in high school, so my first go at university was a rushed decision. However, I always knew that I would want to own my own business one day (i.e. the school) and that I will need to know how to raise capital, sell the product (school programs), lead people, and sustain a long living organisation.
Out of my five studies, the one that has the biggest impact on me was probably advertising, which helped me understand how brand development, corporate culture, corporate identity, publicity and image work as part of a company’s marketing strategy. I did well in advertising but had to leave to take care of my personal issues. Initially I chose it was because I was too chicken to audition for music school (I had stopped playing music for about 3 years then, I’d probably flunk anyway), but it’s creative and based on the business principles I have encountered in a previous study.
My current study, PA, has been the most stable, but the program *****. The campus is originally a PR school that happens to be attended by a number of local celebrities; so they made a communication program tailor made for students intending to pursue a career in showbiz. We ended up getting raw public relations material with odd classes like anthropology, law, and telecommunication technology, with two supplementary art classes per semester.
I don’t mind the academic subjects, but am alarmed at the lack of theory basis, technique drilling, and emphasis of dedicated showmanship in these classes. We don’t even get to choose what kind of performing arts we intend to specialise in, we just get some singing classes and some acting classes but they’re basically just throwing the baby in the bath water. So I can sing a bit, act a bit, dance a bit, write scripts, direct, and produce a production satisfactorily, but I can do none of these at a professional level.
The reason why I didn’t take education major was because I’m not interested in being a classroom teacher. My goal is to raise the capital to start this school, establish a particular brand of education with a distinctive corporate culture, and lead and train the decision makers to run the business responsibly. However, considering that I will need to know the principles of setting up curricula and methods of approaching students to bring out the best of them, I am willing to consider pursuing a master’s degree in education.
When it comes to work experience, I have had many jobs but not been able to keep them. My longest job was selling skin care products and recruiting people for an MLM company; I lasted 2 years but can’t call that a career. Other than that I have worked mostly doing on and off translation projects, and briefly worked in a clothing shop and as an MC for concerts and corporate events. Now that my musical skills have died, my remaining best gifts remaining would be languages (I’m trilingual), public speaking, fusion cooking, leadership, strategizing, and writing… but I have no formal training in any of these and (except for languages and writing) have barely used them in professional settings. I’ve considered to start working in TV broadcast or an advertising consultancy… they can always use some creative entertainment and I need to make money anyway, but so far my attempts to get into the industry have not been successful. Furthermore, at this point I just can’t see it yet drawing me closer to my later goal of founding a performing arts school. I just don’t want to make another bad decision I’d regret later in life.
A prospective employer once told me that I know what I want, but currently do not have what it takes to get what I want. He’s right, but my life has only just begun and I can do someth
I can do something to change that if I could just map out where I want to go, learn, work, and consistently dedicate myself to it. I don’t believe that my dream is impossible, but it will require breaking down into realistic baby steps I can rationally work on now, and constantly following up and revising strategies to get there.
What I’m wondering is… how do people get into the education business? What did successful private school founders do when they were young? What kind of people did they hang around, and what kind of books did they read? Why did they have a passion for setting up this school? With the kind of education, work experience, and skills I have, what are some valuable things I can use to get closer to the dream? What kind of skills, experience, and further education will I have to pursue? And since I
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