Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSquealer
I always enjoy reading your posts and seeing you express your views. You are one of the few articulate people here who can make a well reasoned point.
I wasn't really trying to paint it as a black and white picture. I was more trying to say "there's this whole other side that never gets addressed". No one is saying "hey, we expect more from you" or "we expect better from you" anymore. Suddenly every person is a star and expecting to go through life being treated as such.... and worse, confused when it isn't happening.
What I dislike is the idea that some external thing causes ones own success or failure in life. True or not, thinking like that or believing that in itself is a recipe for failure. That's the catch-22 of helping vs hurting. There are no billionaires, olympic athletes or multiplatinum artists talking about "hey man, i never had to try". In fact, no one that is successful is going to say "yeah, its all just luck" as they know its about attitude, determination and hard work.
Man,... about schools... I would love to tell you a story about a personal experience recently that was just blowing me away but it would have to be in private. The teacher herself, was barely literate. Really a wake up call in terms of where this nation is at with public education. Of course, then again,.... we can't call a bunch of unionized teachers worthless or a school system horrible without being attacked and being told we simply don't throw enough money at the problem. Somehow a university can have one teacher in front of 800 students doing their jobs and we can't get public schools to the point that teachers are standing up in front of 30 students and doing their jobs.
|
You are 100% correct when you say that those who are billionaires or huge successes in their fields (IE actors, singers, athletes etc) don't chalk it up to luck. Pro athletes usually commit themselves to their sport when they are little kids and they play their entire lives to get to that elite level. When you get to that level often times it is the details that make the difference. Sometimes just a fraction of a second on a sprint time or an extra couple of reps on a benchpress can be the difference between getting drafted in the first round and not being drafted at all. There are a ton of talented, great college athletes that are just a fraction away from being able to be a pro. The difference might be that the guy who made it as a pro spent a few extra weeks during vacation working out or doing something that gave him that tiny bit of an edge and that edge was enough.
Rarely does success just fall in your lap. you might get a break, but your preparedness has you ready to take advantage of that break. Often it is also about having the courage to take the plunge and do something for yourself. Most people are not willing to take a chance and give up what they have for a chance at something bigger and better. I have a friend who really wants to run his own business. I have given him all kinds of advice and we even worked together on a few projects, but eventually they didn't work out for him. Between putting in 45-50 hours per week at his day job and spending time with his family he had no time to work on the project. When I tell him he is going to have to sacrifice one of them he then tells me he won't quit his job until he is making at least as much at the new business which is likely impossible since he doesn't have any time to work on the new business. He wants it, but doesn't want the risk that is associated with it.
I also agree that it seems like the current generation of kids does have a higher than normal sense of entitlement. I know all adults bitch about the current kids being little shits, but I was reading an article about a year ago where they were showing questions asked of grade and high school kids. One of the questions they asked was if the kid thought they were a person of significant importance. 20 years ago about 8% of the kids answered yes. The newest poll showed 40% of the kids said yes. When asked what they wanted to be when they grew up the kids from 20 years ago had a wide variety of answers. With today's the second most popular answer was famous. Not musician or actor or singer, just famous. My nephew is a perfect example of it. He is now 19 years old. He has never worked, has no job prospects and all he does all days is sit around and smoke weed. All of his friends that are his age have pretty much abandoned him because they were sick of always having to pay for him and providing him transportation if they went somewhere. So now he hangs out with kids that are still in high school. Yes, he is that one creepy guy all schools have that is 19 and hanging out with 15 and 16 year olds. By all accounts he is a loser, but he has such an ego he thinks he is the greatest thing that has ever walked the planet. He is 100% certain he will either be a pro skateboarder or a famous DJ, yet he only skates a few times per week and can only do a couple of tricks and he never practices and when it comes to DJing all he does is listen to the music and download tracks. I try to tell him what it will take for him to succeed to motivate him, but he doesn't want to hear it.
There are good kids out there and good teachers and good schools, but it seems like the entire system is just continually being dumbed down and it is helping to create more and more people who are under-educated, self absorbed and unwilling to work.