An age-old conversation that emerges in classrooms all over the world usually begins like this: “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” As a teacher of upper elementary students, I look forward to this talk because I enjoy hearing about kids’ dreams and career aspirations.
I enjoy this conversation so much because hardly any 11or 12-year-old knows what they want to do with their lives. I certainly didn’t at that age. And the sky-is-the-limit mentally presented by kids is a pure demonstration of youthful gumption. Answers usually run the gamut from airplane pilot to zookeeper and everything in between. There are always a handful of kids that want to be professional athletes and some just claim they want to be millionaires (with no explanation of how this fortune will be obtained). Over the last few years however, a new vocation has been added to the list: “When I grow up, I’m going to be a YouTuber.”
The first time I heard this, I admit that I categorized this career choice alongside pro hockey player, in that it’s not entirely realistic. To make a career as a professional hockey player is a one in a million chance and 5 years ago, I likened the odds of becoming a professional YouTuber to the odds of becoming a professional hockey player. But now, my follow up has changed. It goes something like this: “That’s awesome. I think that you can definitely become a YouTuber. But…the question is, what skills are you going to share with the world on YouTube?”
If you are like me, the average soccer dad, you may have consulted YouTube for a plethora of reasons, including but not limited to: how to fix a hole in drywall, how to start tomato plants indoors and the eternal question of how to remove a sock that has been flushed down the toilet. Of course, plumbing, gardening and home renovation just scrape the surface of the DIY category of YouTube channels. The YouTube format is not only an amazing source of ‘how to’ information, it is also a virtual rabbit hole of entertainment and information provided by creative people that share their art and talent with the online world.
A quick and very unscientific Google search informs me that less than one percent of YouTubers make a full-time living from their videos. Furthermore, a YouTube creator requires not only a generous amount of subscribers, but a ballpark figure of 1 million views per video to earn anything close to a living wage these days.
But, there is hope. I really do believe that a successful YouTuber can actually quit their nine-to-five jobs in order to make a living from sharing their talents online. The online presence in our homes is here to stay. And as a teacher, after much self-deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that I fully support any student that wants to become a professional ‘YouTuber.’ Albeit, as long as it contributes to the betterment of society. Or helps me the next time I am trying to clean permanent marker off the wall.
