Socrates emphasises over and over again that in order for his kallipolis to exist, everyone has to have a job that fits their natural talent. He says that if anyone does a job that they aren’t naturally suited for, “these exchanges and this sort of meddling bring the city to ruin” (434b).
What happens if everyone in the city has passions that don’t align with their interests? The cobbler is great at making shoes, but what if he’s dreaming of being a cook? And what if the guard is fantastic at guarding, but all she’s ever wanted to do is be a doctor? Then everyone in the city is unhappy, despite having jobs that they’re naturally suited for, and I think it would be hard to argue that the kallipolis is, on the whole, happy. They’re efficient, and very productive, but they would not be happy.
I thought about this a lot because I’ve spent the last two years wondering if I should stick with computer science as a second major. When I took intro to computer science, I loved the class. Solving puzzles felt very concrete to me, and I loved watching my code run and pass all the tests. But coding didn’t come naturally to me, and even as I moved into higher division classes, I struggled to keep up. I needed the class to move slower for me, but that wasn’t going to happen.
At some point, I started to question how passionate I felt about computer science. Was I not excited about going to class because I didn’t like the topic anymore, or was I afraid of looking and feeling incompetent? Was not being naturally gifted at computer science a sign that I should leave, or should I not let it get in my way? Socrates would have told me that my insistence on staying in computer science was ruining society. I don’t know if I agree with Socrates.
My computer science skills are far better now than they were three years ago. I’m no longer a computer science major, but I also don’t regret taking those classes.
I understand that for the sake of social efficiency people should be in jobs that they’re good at. I’d rather have a doctor who’s good at her job than one who’s passionate but incompetent. So how much should schools take this into account? Should teachers push students toward fields they’re talented at, or one’s they’re passionate about? I don’t think it’s fair to assume that the two always align. Should we assume that talent can turn into passion, or should we assume that over a long enough period of time, passion will turn into talent?
Education 
Hi Kaitlyn!
The pursuit of academia for something you’re good at versus something you enjoy is certainly a contradiction. Surely, there might be some collision of the two, but it does call into question our purpose in society. While I was reading your post, I couldn’t help but ponder the relationship of the “passion vs. talent” predicament to monetary incentive in society. For example, there is a high demand for students to become a physician or lawyer or businessman not necessarily because they enjoy learning the subject they find themselves in, but because of the wealth they will receive in the future. Some of these students may genuinely be talented at rotating orbital configurations in their head or making excel spreads on a companies stock risks. For these students, they sacrifice their passions in other fields (e.g. history, music, theatre) to pursue a subject that promises financial security. I think this is attributional to a decline in student’s wanting to study classics, languages, and the fine arts, especially at Pomona College.
However, a significant flaw I find in this motive is that a lack of passion for these high-profile occupations could ultimately lead to ineffective leaders – doctors who don’t listen to their patients, lawyers who defend evidence-ridden sex offenders, businessmen who invest in sin stocks because of depreciating value. The way I see it, pursuing talent without passion guides people away from humanity. Analogous to Socrates’ “parts of the soul,” then, perhaps talent over passion drives an individual to overcompensate appetitive desire of wealth over rationality and spirit which may otherwise empathetically connect them with the rest of society. Besides, I genuinely believe that an individual’s passion can evolve into a talent of their own even if they sacrifice other, more innate talents they simply would have no passion for.
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