The world needs ordinary people, too
“Are you average?” the job ad read. Images of working with down to earth, guy or girl next-door types of people filled my head. I liked that idea.
My illusion was quickly shattered by the next two words. “If not.” If not, then we want you. Which implies, if you are, then we don’t.
Our society has become much too preoccupied with making everyone into a super person.
We see grade school children enrolled in so many extra curricular activities they have no time to just goof off and be kids.
We see teens who to do part time jobs, take advanced placement classes, play several sports and try out for the school play, stressing themselves out trying to excel in all of it so it will look good on a college application.
College students try to get perfect grades and be in as many organizations as possible to make a good resume.
College grads run off to job interviews and attempt to convince potential employers that they were good students, landed the perfect internship and were friendly, outgoing leaders during college.
While it’s good for a person to do his or her best, North American culture has taken the concept much too far.
We have gone from encouraging people to excel to demanding it. It has gone from being considered good to be a leader to being considered unacceptable to be a follower.
From parents wanting to help their kids understand concepts at school to them wanting to make 5-year-old geniuses.
From wanting kids to be active in sports because they enjoy it to looking at third graders as NFL stars in the making.
A recent article in The Forum mentioned how 20 years ago, high school teachers and parents argued over F’s. Today, they argue over B’s.
It is high time we realized that not everyone is the next Leonardo DaVinci.
The ones who are should certainly be encouraged to cultivate their abilities, but not at the expense of putting down the non-DaVinci portion of the population.
I’m certainly not saying we should try to make everyone feel like a superstar in order to raise self-esteem.
As I said in a column last semester, I am very much against that. However, it’s time we shifted the emphasis from being the best to doing one’s personal best.
We need to let children be children and have time for unstructured play rather than trying to make them into little champions.
We need to stop pressuring high school and college students to build super resumes and help them make realistic plans for their futures.
I personally would rather live in a world of happy, well-adjusted ordinary people than a world overrun by stressed out superstars too exhausted from the rat race to see what life is really meant to be.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum