"You're not special!"

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And when some of these kids graduate college with a 4.0 GPA they still won't be special.
 
Yes I can't believe the way people gush over their kids these days. They scribble on a piece of scrap paper and it's a masterpiece.

John
 
I saw that Pete! What a brilliant message.

The kiddies of today might have received that special participation award even thought they couldn't hit a baseball to save their lives, but the real world doesn't give out participation awards.
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
And when some of these kids graduate college with a 4.0 GPA they still won't be special.

You have to step in a lot of #2 before you can become #1. I think it is a good lesson and if they take it the way it was intended they will stop thinking they are special and earn it. Nothing is ever given to you....
 
Originally Posted By: Bgallagher
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
And when some of these kids graduate college with a 4.0 GPA they still won't be special.



You have to step in a lot of #2 before you can become #1. I think it is a good lesson and if they take it the way it was intended they will stop thinking they are special and earn it. Nothing is ever given to you....


Exactly! The people who are bent out of shape over this didn't listen to any of it. His premise is that for someone to be "special", you have to start with the premise that no one is special. And even if you don't become the next Warren Buffet, if you get out there, live your life, do the things that bring you happiness, you YOURSELF as in individual rose from the ranks of the masses who, as a group, aren't special.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Scroll to the end to watch his speech video. He's pretty entertaining while still making his point clear.


We actually got a similar speech in one of our first year university classes up here, many years ago. It's quite true, if you ask me. My friend's kids always talk about how hard they try, even when they don't succeed. I remind them that effort is important, but in the real world, you get rewarded for success. You don't get a Nobel prize for attempted physics, or a sales commission on attempted sales.
 
I'm not sure if this teacher is right or not, but the real problem with people who think they are special is they think others are beneath them even when objectively the opposite might be the case.

I think the real problem is not just not valuing achievement but also valuing personality over character. That's not a new phenomenom, but it has gotten more extreme over the years. Nowadays, it's not what you accomplish or your character that counts. It's all about, "I'm Mr. or Mrs. Personality and I'm special and deserve more than everyone else. And you don't deserve anything.".
 
Good, now someone needs to make a speech like that at a college graduation, though those multimillion dollar panhandlers probably wouldn't allow it because they rely on their graduates thinking they accomplished something great. I see my diploma factory for what it is and refuse to give them more money, though they frequently beg and harass my parents about it too. Apparently the $40K+ for the piece of paper wasn't enough and they need more. Nope! Not until that piece of paper makes gold fall from the sky.

The whole feel good education scheme has become such a joke. Tell everybody they will be a millionaire astronaut if they just put their mind to it. What does that do? Nothing! Except set people up for disappointment. I am NOT against education, it just needs to be far more realistic than it is. It would also help if so many professors didn't think they were geniuses and waste class time talking about their crackpot ideas to make a bunch of money. College was a joke.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
You don't get a Nobel prize for attempted physics, or a sales commission on attempted sales.


You do get the Nobel piece prize for attempted hope.
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
And when some of these kids graduate college with a 4.0 GPA they still won't be special.

WHEN they graduate with the 4 point oh it will be in part because they set out to PROVE they are special, rather than think, as so many kids do today, that the world owes them a living. BTW I have a child who graduated from university with high honors, he busted his hump to do so, now THAT's special.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
And when some of these kids graduate college with a 4.0 GPA they still won't be special.



WHEN they graduate with the 4 point oh it will be in part because they set out to PROVE they are special, rather than think, as so many kids do today, that the world owes them a living. BTW I have a child who graduated from university with high honors, he busted his hump to do so, now THAT's special.

My GPA wasn't a 4.0, but it was 3.7 or 3.8 I think. Dean's list, Chancellor's list, Cum Laude...all that nonsense. I am not special! Hundreds of other people just in my graduating class did the same thing. Yes, it took some work, but it doesn't make me any more special than the dude who has busted his hump just to make a living because he didn't have the opportunity to go to the diploma factory.
 
We are dealing with an NEA/AFT "self esteem" educational system which means everybody gets a trophy and a promotion to the next grade. After a while the kiddys EXPECT the system to "move them along" "because". It devalues the diploma and turns out video game addicts who can't change a tire.

We learned a couple of things from the Germans afte WWII. One, American infantrymen were [censored] good shots because so many of them grew up around firearms (and they had the Garrand) while gun control in Germany kept firearms out of the hands of a whole generation of Germans until they hit the service, and two, the Germans pointed out that THEIR tanks and other machines had to go back to the depot to be fixed while the average American tank crew, having grown up owning and fixing cars, could repair the Shermans out in a field under a tarp. Result, more of our tanks ready for combat at any given time, while the German tanks, technical wonders that they may have been, were on transporters back to ze depot.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Scroll to the end to watch his speech video. He's pretty entertaining while still making his point clear.


We actually got a similar speech in one of our first year university classes up here, many years ago. It's quite true, if you ask me. My friend's kids always talk about how hard they try, even when they don't succeed. I remind them that effort is important, but in the real world, you get rewarded for success. You don't get a Nobel prize for attempted physics, or a sales commission on attempted sales.

Kinda like the "Tac officers" in OCS giving you the "look to the left, look to the right" speech.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
You do get the Nobel piece prize for attempted hope.
lol.gif



Okay, I stand corrected. Those are usually given to politicians anyhow, and they are without merit or accomplishment anyhow.
wink.gif


Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Kinda like the "Tac officers" in OCS giving you the "look to the left, look to the right" speech.


That's usually for slovenly footwear, though.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: Garak
You don't get a Nobel prize for attempted physics, or a sales commission on attempted sales.


You do get the Nobel piece prize for attempted hope.
lol.gif



I spelled piece wrong.
220px-Wikip-facepalm.jpg
 
Quote:
You do get the Nobel piece prize for attempted hope.


I like that.

I tell my grandkids they're special to me, but will only be special to society when they accomplish something.
 
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