CELEBRATING MEDIOCRITY TODAYBy: Rebecca Trueba

THE TWO BASIC PRINCIPALS WE TEACH OUR CHILDREN:

There are Winners• Winners are celebrated with

trophies, or prizes.

• Winners are the best.

• In order to win, you have to give it your all.

• You must practice.

There Are Losers

• Losers are not celebrated and do not get a prize. (Do not pass go!)

• Losers are not the best.

• When they lose, they must go home, regroup, and practice to become better.

WHY IS THIS LOSING A GOOD THING?

It pushes our youth to strive to be better.

Teaches them how to cope with

disappointment.

Rewards those who work hard.

STRIVING FOR BETTER! PEOPLE WHO FAILED AND CAME BACK EVEN STRONGER

Henry Ford

While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and American-made cars, he wasn't an instant success. In fact, his early businesses failed and left him broke five times before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.

Akio Morita

You may not have heard of Morita but you've undoubtedly heard of his company, Sony. Sony's first product was a rice cooker that unfortunately didn't cook rice so much as burn it, selling less than 100 units. This first setback didn't stop Morita and his partners as they pushed forward to create a multi-billion dollar company.

Jerry Seinfeld

Just about everybody knows who Seinfeld is, but the first time the young comedian walked on stage at a comedy club, he looked out at the audience, froze and was eventually jeered and booed off of the stage. Seinfeld knew he could do it, so he went back the next night, completed his set to laughter and applause, and the rest is history.

WHY SOME BELIEVE IN CODDLING OUR YOUTH

TODAY.• All children are equal, and should be celebrated together, to promote self confidence. • They do not want to hurt the children’s feelings by allowing them to lose. • The thought that giving a child a taste of what it is like to be the best, will encourage them to be better.

THE DRASTIC TRUTH• We need to spend just as much attention to our gifted and talented youth

as we do on our special needs children. • While special needs funding holds an 11 Billion dollar budget annually, (Education

Week, 09) the amount that our gifted are given are as follows: In 2013-14:

֍14 states provided no funding to local districts for gifted education Of the 25 states that provided funds to districts:

֍ 8 provided $40 million or more ֍ 9 states provided between $1 million and $10 million ֍ 22 states leave the decision to school districts ֍ 17 states do not collect demographic data about their gifted student population ֍ 9 states report on the academic performance / learning growth of gifted students

as a separate group on state report cards or other accountability measures –

(See more at: http://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/gifted-education-us#sthash.8TyFvUa1.dpuf)

WHY IS THIS A BAD IDEA?

Rewarding a child for something they did not earn will create and adult who thinks they will have every thing handed to them.

Negates the efforts of our best and our brightest youth.

Stagnates our youth by never giving them something amazing to strive for.

“A CHEETAH RUNNING AT FORTY MILES PER HOUR MIGHT BE IMPRESSIVE TO

SOME OBSERVERS, BUT IT IS DRASTICALLY UNDERACHIEVING IN COMPARISON TO ITS POTENTIAL.

SIMILARLY, IF A CHEETAH ONLY HAS TO CHASE AFTER RABBITS WHO RUN

TWENTY MILES PER HOUR, IT WON’T RUN SEVENTY.” (BAINES, STANLEY 12)

WE MUST ALLOW OUR WINNERS TO WIN AND OUR LOSERS TO

LOSE.

THIS IS HOW WE LEARN TO DEAL WITH LIFE, AND WHEN WE DON’T GET WHAT WE WANT, THE DRIVE IS INSTILLED TO PUSH HARDER.

WORKS CITED• Baines, Lawrence, Jackie McDowell, and David Faulk. “One Step Forward, Three Steps Backward: Alternative Certification

Programs in Texas, Georgia, and Florida.” Educational Horizons Fall (2001): 32-37. JSTOR. Web. 8 Oct. 2014. • Baines, Lawrence & Stanly, Gregory K. “Celebrating Mediocrity? How Schools Shortchange Gifted Students.” Roeper Review.

25.1 Fall (2010) Print. • Baines, Lawrence, and Gregory Stanley. "Coaching: Last Bastion of Academic Excellence?" The Clearing House 76.4 (2003):

217-20. JSTOR. Database. 08 Oct. 2014. • Boyd, David. "Ethical Determinants for Generations X and Y." Journal of Business Ethics 93.3 (2010): 465-69. JSTOR. Database.

05 Oct. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/40605356>. • Bracey, Gerald W. "The No Child Left Behind Act, a Plan for the Destruction of Public Education: Just Say No." On the Death of

Childhood and the Destruction of Public Schools: The Folly of Today's Education Policies and Practices. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003. 1-12. Print.

• Ferter, Frank. “End the Celebration of Mediocrity – Employee of the Year, Part 1 & 2.” YouTube. YouTube, 8 Sep. 2014. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.

• Herd, Jenni. "Annoyed." New York Times [New York] 04 Mar. 2014. Print. • Hunter, Derek. "Celebrating Mediocrity At The Expense Of Merit." Townhall.com. Townhall.com, 6 Feb. 2014. Web. 09 Oct.

2014. <http://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2014/02/06/celebrating-mediocrity-at-the-expense-of-merit-n1790195/page/full>.

• Martinez, Monica. "It's All About "Me"" The Phi Delta Kappan 91.2 (2009): 74-75. JSTOR. Database. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://jstor.org/stable/40344906>.

• McCurdy, Keith. "Celebrating Mediocrity." News Roanoke Virginia. TheRoanokeStar.com, 10 Oct. 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <http://theroanokestar.com/2011/10/27/celebrating-mediocrity/>.

• McLendon, Michael L. “Rousseau, “Amour Propre”, and Intellectual Celebrity.” The Journal of Politics 71.2 (2009): 506-19. JSTOR. Database. 10 Oct. 2014.

• Sicha, Choire. "Stop Celebrating Mediocrity and Reward Achievement." Tahlequah Daily Press. Tahlequah Daily Press: Editorials, 23 May 2014. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.

• Twenge, Jean M. "Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, and Entitled: And More Miserable than Ever Before." The American Journal of Psychology 121.4 (2008): 675-82. JSTORE. Database. 04 Oct. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20445493>.