(Note: this blog was originally published on richdlin.com, on November 3, 2012)
I'm kind of a strange guy, in that most of my favourite movie quotes come from animated films or sci-fi, or both. Yoda, Master Oogway, Jean-Luc Picard, Optimus Prime ... all have wisdom to share. But today's blog is about one of my very favourites, from Mr. Incredible himself, when he found out his son was going to be part of a graduation ceremony at the end of grade 4.
"It is not a graduation. He will be moving from the 4th grade to the 5th grade. It's psychotic! They keep inventing new ways to celebrate mediocrity, but when someone is genuinely exceptional..." --Bob Parr, aka Mr. Incredible
How sadly appropriate in today's society. Our children are bedecked with meaningless medals, they stare at shelves lined with trophies for participation, and they are celebrated in ceremonies commemorating inevitability. Society has decided that recognition of excellence must not come at the expense of the runners-up. So everyone wins. Every moment is a photo opportunity. When my son finished Kindergarten the photographer at the school put him in a cap and gown and handed him a fake diploma for the portrait! How proud we were meant to be, I wonder, that through hard work and dedication he had earned his Kindergarten diploma? I mean truly, how many parents can say their kids have managed that milestone?
We manufacture their success and then we celebrate it. Then we lament the fact that this new generation comes off as underachieving, entitled, and uninspired.
Thankfully we are wrong about them. But sadly the reason young people often come off this way is because we give them little choice. How is a child who is constantly rewarded in the wake of mediocre performance to learn the benefit of striving for excellence? What will inspire them if, having put forth little to no effort, they are lauded as champions? Because that is what we do. And for those children who truly shine, what is their reward, when all the others are painted with the same glorious brush? How long should we expect those kids to put in all their effort when they watch their peers work half as hard, accomplish half as much, and get praised twice as often? Because the other sad truth is that for fear of hurting those who under-perform, we under-reward those who excel. Are we doing anybody any favours with this?
Of course, it's not always like this. Happily younger generations still have the human condition, and still want to truly excel. They are inspiring, they don't all think life is a free ride, and many of them achieve their potential. And I know many teachers - myself included - who still push for excellence and reward it when we see it, and who do not praise mediocrity or manufacture success. That may sound harsh, but it is not. Kids know when they have put forth their best effort. They know when they have broken past old boundaries. In short, they know the difference between success and failure. And when they feel that nothing special has occurred, but the world around them still celebrates their "achievement", it is confusing for them and makes them feel like a fraud. In other words, in trying to build self-esteem by making sure everyone gets a trophy, we really reduce it significantly. By recognizing true excellence, we foster it. We dare kids to be exceptional.
There is another quote I love, this time from a real-life person. It's actually often mistakenly attributed to Nelson Mandela, because he quoted it in a speech, but the original author of the quote is Marianne Williamson:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." --Marianne Williamson
I have read and reread this quote to many of my students, and often just to myself. If you've never heard it or read it, spend some time reading it over a few times right now. If you have read it or heard it before, read it again now. Think about what she's saying. I think about it all the time. Every time I am tempted to, say, dumb down a sentence because I think maybe the audience won't understand it. Or every time I am singing in public and catch myself deliberately about to use my "I don't really think I'm a singer" voice so people won't think I'm showing off. Every time a student asks me about how I did in math when I was in high school, and I almost lie because I don't want them to feel bad about the mark they are getting. Every time these things come up, I remember that I should dare to be exceptional, so that others will too. So I use my full vocabulary and let my students use context to figure out what I mean, I sing with intent every time, and I tell them that I was very good at math and that I had an average of 97% in my last year of high school, which was only as low as that because my English mark brought it down.
So my advice is this:
Parents - love your kids but please don't confuse love with empty praise. Challenge them to be better and praise/reward them for true excellence. Don't be afraid for them to try something and fail, because failure feeds desire.
Teachers - let's continue to raise our expectations and celebrate when the students achieve at these higher levels, rather than lower them (as current culture would have us do) so that everyone can "succeed". Let's breed true success.
All of us - don't shrink from your own brilliance. Go all out every time, and watch how everyone around you starts to do the same thing. We can be so impressive when we want to.
Let's want to.
Thanks for reading,
Rich