Celebrating Mediocrity

Has anyone else noticed what society has become? We no longer have sports days where someone wins in case the losing kid gets upset, we have made exams easier, the kid who gets a D isn't told he or she did bad, they are told they kept up with the modules and did well in areas.

Talented kids are held back because they are forced to wait for the slower ones to catch up, the less academic kids aren't told that science or maths isn't their area, they are told that they can be doctors, lawyers, scientists, all they have to do is work hard.

Well you know what, some kids won't be doctors, some won't be scientists, some just aren't cut out to use the thing taking up space in their skulls. Call m e elitist if you wish but it's a simple fact that some kids aren't smart enough to achieve academic goals.

I'm tired of this society mollycoddling kids instead of telling them they're rubbish when they are, it never did me any harm when i was told i was rubbish at rugby, i just moved on to martial arts and found i was exceptional at it. Maybe that's what we should do, if a kids rubbish at something we should move them on to something else and see if they're good at that.

I made a thread about bringing back grammar schools a while ago, grammar schools when operated correctly are based on intellectual merit and nothing else. That's how it should be, if you're good at something you are told it and if you're rubbish you should also be told it.

Welcome to the age of political correctness my friend

I agree, it's time kids are told straightforward whether they suck at things so they can find something they're good at and move on with life. I found out I sucked at baseball, so I stopped and took up tennis. Sad thing is I was ridiculed by my parents for "giving up" when I should have been told that I sucked but there's plenty of other sports out there for me to try.

If kids were told the truth in these matters, not only do I believe a vast majority would start looking for things they are good at, society would be better off as a whole because time won't be wasted trying to achieve something that simply isn't within some people's grasp.

I agree to an extent, but what about this situation:

A kid tries at something and fails. The parents tell him that he is just not cut out for science, so try something else. He tries something else and is bad at that. And so on and so forth.

He wastes numerous years trying to "find" what he is good at until he one day realizes that it is not the things he tries, but rather, the problem is inherently within himself... that he simply does not work hard enough.

And who's to say some people are just not cut out to be something? I admit I have met some dumb people in my life (IMO) that I could not fathom in an ER, but does that prove that they are incapable?

Doesn't this kind of mindset already start to segregate the developing mind into areas in which they think they can do and those that they think they cannot? The belief that they can do something is an unpredictable force.

With that said, mediocrity is a serious issue in today's world. Not enough spanking. Fools are growing up so soft and spoiled (this, of course, pertains to the youth I have witnessed in California).

Good point. The judgement would lie on the parents or whomever is instructing the children their capabilities.

Perhaps the problem lies not within whether children are told if they are good/bad at something, but the older youths. I think this "i can do it" mentality stays with alot of people throughout their lives, and they never grow up enough to learn to differentiate between the possible and highly improbable.

Now that I think about it, alot more good would come of teaching the youth how to know what they can or cannot do, rather than children.

I agree with the youth growing up with the "I can do it!" mentality yet failing to see that they simply cannot.

The possible and the highly improbable

Well put!

Thank you! But thinking back to when I was in high school (which I admit was only a few years ago), I remember a good deal of my friends would talk about how they were going to be doctors, lawyers, etc. when they were making mediocre grades...in high school...because of their laziness. If you're too lazy to work in high scool, I'd have to say that one's chances of having an occupation that requires constant hard work is indeed highly improbable.

Side note: they all ended up majoring in business, communications, or the likes, and not one became a doctor/lawyer. Their excuses: change of mind, not inability or laziness.

I went in for parent teacher interviews. I asked my son's teacher why they no longer had spelling ( grade 4) she said "it was'nt really important at this stage. We are in a computer age now anyway". Kids are not learning the basics anymore.
On my way out of the school I picked up a little book in front of the guidance councilor's office. It was called harsh realities. Inside was full of tips like how to shoot up, and to give your viens a rest from time to time. There were pictures displaying happy faces on the genitles anus with happy faces. in the lengend it said these were places it would be pleasurable to lick. There were activity tips for low risk aids contraction which included eating feces and drinking urine. There was a thing called docking which was new to me. It's were you pull your forskin over another's penis. I took it to the principle and he assured me it was a mistake. We walked over to the rack, and there was no longer any more books, but there were smaller condensed pamphets that dealt with the same issues minus the docking information. He apologized and assured me there was a mistake. These were not meant to be there he said.
No I guess not. I never pursued it.

[edit on 16-7-2008 by Swingarm]

[edit on 16-7-2008 by Swingarm]

I don't know about those pamphlets, but kids not learning how to spell is ludicrous!

I read a note (yes, the kind boys wrote girls in middle school) from a 19 year old guy to my 17 year old sister, and he misspelled about 6 words in there. Most common was "there" for "their" or vice versa. I can't imagine a more flambouyantly obvious way to show ignorance/stupidity than to have terrible grammar and spelling. But hey, I guess it's more important to have the new iPhone than to spell or write correctly.

reply to post by Alexander_Supertramp


Funny I just got a lesson tonight in another thread. I make lots of spelling errors with these sausages for fingers.

Ah, but it's one thing to think faster than you type. It's something else to sit down, think, write something out that is important (as a letter to one's girlfriend of 2 years on their anniversary is), and then misspell words and use terrible grammar (many comma splices, etc.).

Kids spend more time learning about bully smart, healthy eating and things that should be taught at home. I have 4 children. I've seen standards go down steady from my eldest to my youngest.

Another interesting trend is not keeping score for sports games. It's designed to teach the love of the game. What BS.

[edit on 16-7-2008 by Swingarm]

reply to post by Swingarm


Typing mistakes are fine in my book, i make plenty of them, however when you sit and write and cncentrate and still get it wrong after checking it through, that shows bad spelling which can't be blaimed on typing skills.

My point is that we keep celebrating mediocrity becuase we think it's bad to criticise kids, we think it's awful to let them come last and feel down about it. Well i don't want any kid to feel down, but i won't bow down to that and in exchange hold back very smart kids or kids who are slightly less smart but try so hard they do well.

There are some kids who don't try and others who are just dumb and i'm sorry but these people will never amount to being a doctor or scientist and i'm really just sick of people saying we should wait for them to catch up. Some of them won't catch up, even if they really try hard they'll never grasp some things, i hate to sound cruel but it's just the truth.

Originally posted by swingarm
Another interesting trend is not keeping score for sports games. It's designed to teach the love of the game. What BS.

What an absolutely stupid idea, i agree with you. The whole point of competition is that people try harder! Maybe we should do away with exams altogether, afterall that would be scoring wouldn't it

[edit on 16-7-2008 by ImaginaryReality1984]

Originally posted by ImaginaryReality1984
reply to post by Swingarm

 

My point is that we keep celebrating mediocrity becuase we think it's bad to criticise kids, we think it's awful to let them come last and feel down about it. Well i don't want any kid to feel down, but i won't bow down to that and in exchange hold back very smart kids or kids who are slightly less smart but try so hard they do well.

[edit on 16-7-2008 by ImaginaryReality1984]

Part of growing up is teaching children how to take constructive criticism. An even bigger part, if not the biggest part of maturing, is failing. The greatest lessons in life come from failures, I can't imagine how deprived children are by learning that failure is synonymous with not trying hard enough.

"You didn't fail, Johnny, you just had bad luck. It's not your fault, don't cry."

reply to post by Alexander_Supertramp


I agree with you. Now the question is, Is this calculated or just plain a old substandard system. It seems that everything is about keeping people entertained? This applies at the adult level as well.While we're being entertained our country is being hijacked. The PTB are going to make sure the trend continues.

[edit on 16-7-2008 by Swingarm]

[edit on 16-7-2008 by Swingarm]

That is a whole other problem in itself. Entertainment is the root of most laziness, which is the root of the vast majority of problems in America. Also, I don't know what PTB stands for

Cool what martial art do you train in?