For years I’ve been driving by a local grammar school and something has bothered me. The school is in good shape, in a nice neighborhood, and has been there since the mid 1950’s. There have never been any problems, that I know of, on campus and the students seem well adjusted. And then one day I realized what bothered me. It was there plastered on the side of the school gym right next to the street. It was the school motto. The motto read “We strive for success.”
OK…I know…this sounds perfectly fine and noble, but it bugged me. It bugged me because it teaches, at least subliminally, that kids should focus on success which is, very often, an elusive product over which we, very often, have little control. From my perspective, I would like to replace the success with a word that emphasizes the process which can lead to the product (success)… a word like excellence.
Sadly, in today’s world, success can be had at the expense of ethics and honesty. Sports heroes take steroids. Business people pad or even completely falsify their resumes to achieve…success.
Excellence is internal, success is external. The child who cheats “successfully” on a test or copies someone else’s homework may succeed but will they ever excel?
The golfing great, Gary Player, was practicing hitting out of a greenside sand trap on day when a passer-by stopped to watch. Player had been practicing for hours when the man stopped. Player proceeded to hit his next three shots into the hole. The passer-by commented “You have to be the luckiest golfer in the world.” To which Player replied “and the harder I practice, the luckier I get.” Process led to product…excellence led to success. This is what we should teach our kids.
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18 comments:
Everyone knows that schools teach to the lowest common denominator. Then they give all kids the false sense of doing well, even when they are doing poorly, because heaven forbid a child might actually feel bad, and have to take responsibility for their poor performance.
Glad to see you blog again. Could you please not wait 4 months between posts?
good to have you back. Your writing is very logical and well stated.
Keep blogging husband of my cousin!!
i love your post and also lynn's comment. so true! when we go to our grandson's soccer game there is no scorekeeping! at the end of the season everyone gets the same trophy! can't hurt anyone's feelings, right? well, then why try harder? i know i am old but gosh, for the life of me i don't get it.
thanks for posting!
smiles, bee
Loved your post and Lynn's comment too. Your lovely wife sent me here and it was well worth the trip!
Hi Rick:-) I found this post very interesting and you do in fact, have a very good point. Too many times you see kids try so hard to be successful, just to get more and more frustrated. I always taught my boys when they were growing up to just try their best and excel at what they were good at. It's all one can ask!
As I passed our local high school this morning, I noticed their motto is "we strive for excellance" so obviously our County schools agree with you.
By the way the high school is an award winner and has the "excellance banner" hanging proudly.
Rick, have you ever written editorials for a newspaper?
You got it down.
Very interesting read. Good points.
It's like people who complain about how awful life is all the time without realizing how they contribute to the problem.
I stopped by via your significant other's blog and I have to say that I am glad I did. This is an excellent post with some excellent points.
Sadly, people don't seem to care at what cost success might come these days or, in the case of some sports where everyone is awarded the same thing for different efforts (like Lynn said), it teaches children that you don't have to try hard to win or be successful.
Heaven forbid we hurt anyone's feelings anymore - ridiculous!
Another drive by from Joan's blog...having kids in grade school now is tough. They're not allowed to just be kids and have fun. Doing their best is all that anyone can want for children, isn't it?
By the way, I love the quote at the top of your blog, it made me laugh.
Rick, I think that it was Branch Rickey that said that "Luck is the residue of the design", a wonderful quote...his Dodgers and Cardinal teams of the 50-60's were great, and the design (of his teams) were great as well...
Hi - I'm here from Joan's blog too! I agree with you. Anyone can succeed - the schools are making that easy as Lynn said. But shouldn't students be expected to try to do the best that they can instead of just getting by? Schools allow standards to be set low so that everyone can "succeed."
Hello! Your wife recommended that I stop by, and I'm glad I did! Great post and wonderful writing!
Right on...great post...Joan sent me.
Stopped by again to check out your new design and I have to say that Joan did a wonderful job. I absolutely love the quote you have with the picture at the top of your page!
I also returned to see the new look. Your designer/wife did a great job!
You write very well.
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