Friday, September 18, 2015

Are you special?









http://ideas.time.com/2012/06/12/should-we-stop-telling-our-kids-that-theyre-special/

David McCullough’s commencement speech went viral, earning more than 2.5 million views on YouTube. While many viewers praised his message, he also was criticized by people such as Yale Professor Erika Christakis, who argued that his tone was unnecessarily harsh and that children should be raised to believe they are unique and special. Specifically, she argued that celebrating the individual has helped to create a generation that is more open to diversity and differences than previous generations and that teens who do good works in the world primarily to pad their college applications are still improving the world. “Don’t we sometimes acquire our moral values as a result of our actions, and not always the reverse?” she asked in a public response to McCullough’s speech in Time Magazine. “Isn’t building a medical clinic in Guatemala–even if the motivation was, as McCullough suggests, ‘What does it get me?’–better than not building one?” Thinking about these two opposing philosophies, where do you stand?

31 comments:

  1. I am with David when it comes to if everyone should get a trophy. Not everyone deserves the trophy. It is supposed to be something that they earn yet it is just being handed to them. If they don't get the trophy, they will try harder next time if they really want it. That is how they are supposed to earn the trophy. They have to want it bad enough and work hard enough to get it. If we keep just handing them out they will get used to it being that easy for them. They have to learn even at a young age that not everything will be handed to them for participation, that's not how the world works. They need to know that.

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  2. I do not agree with the guy. Everyone is special in someway. He made it seem like everyone is the same. No everyone is not the same. I think he is just a sore loser.

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  3. I agree with David McCullough's idea that you are not special. The reason I agree with him is because it's more logical, realistic, and reasonable. If everyone gets a trophy how is that make you special? It doesn't that why I follow David's opinion. I think our generation is babied and the realistic point of view is lost or forgotten because people don't want to believe it. That is why I agree with David McCullough.

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  4. I agree with the David guy because he does not believe children should get trophies just for participating. I also believe that because then they will not practice or do anything to improve their game. They have to want to want to improve.

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  5. I think that everyone has potential to earn an award. But some people definitely try harder than others and the person who tries harder should get some recognition. If there's a goal you try harder. I don't think everyone is the same by any means but I know how much effort some people put into their work. So I would have to agree with David McCullough.

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  6. I personally think that people shouldn't get a participation trophies. I think it's literally a trophy for sucking or not being good. It is intended to make everybody feel the same. I think that if some people are better at something, they deserve to be recognized for it. It's like how we got rid of valedictorian, that person deserves to be recognized & feel accomplished.

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  7. No I don't think everyone should get a participation trophy. Like David said, " If you give everyone a trophy then they become meaningless". Not everyone deserves a trophy because not everyone puts in effort and practice as much or as little as everyone else. This is not getting them ready for the real word. Later on in life they will have a rude awakening because they wont be practicing or working hard enough to have that trophy. So no not everyone deserves a trophy!

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  8. I thought the man doing the speech was a bit harsh. I don't think he should've done that especially on graduation day. I think that everyone is special in their own way. However, I do agree that you should be passionate about something you do instead of just doing it to get a trophy or something out of it.

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    1. I do agree that he was a little harsh and that should be what your whole graduation speech is supposed to be about. If you are talking to graduating students you should pump them up for their beginning of their new life. He does have a good point though because we aren't special over all we are all the same but we each have our own talents, but there's others people out there in the world that have the same talents as you do

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  9. Trophies should be given on a since of accomplishment not because you are there. By giving the kids trophies they won't work to get better. Thus that will establish a lackadaisical life still for their future. Also if everyone is special then no one is truly special by its definition. Giving trophies is pathing our youth's future to be lazy and expect everyone to hand them what they want just because they are there.

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  10. I agree that you shouldn't reward kids for participation. It makes losing okay and stops kids from wanting to get better. It gives kids the idea that you don't need to work hard in order to get a award. Why would anyone bust their butt to win first when you get a trophy either way.

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    1. I totally agree with Johns point about why would anyone bust their butt when they know they are getting a trophy either way. I do not think this will make losing okay because in my mind kids will always want to win.

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  11. I do not think that trophies should be given to children for their participation. It never has been like that in the past, don't make it like that now. If a child is signing up for a sport, they should be focused on putting forth full effort in practice everyday and wanting to win (competition). If children are given trophies for participation the competition will slowly lessen because not everyone will be trying as hard as they should. I think trophies should only be given to the ones who have worked their butts off and earned those trophies.

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  12. I agree with David because we aren't special. There are millions of people in the world and what's to say that we are any different from them? We aren't creating new inventions or coming up with new scientific theory. We are doing the same things as half the people on this planet. I don't think people should get participation trophies because not only does it make us not try harder, but it makes us have expect to have everything handed to us as we get older.The world should challenge us more. We should have to earn everything we want and enjoy the little things that come along with it.

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  13. I agree people shouldn't be given participation awards. Because somebody could be the best athlete and the kid who sits on the sidelines are being compared because there getting the same award. You should get what you put in. Receive the awards that you worked to get too. Not be compared to the kid who sits on the sideline and hardly gets to go in.

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  14. I agree you should not get a trophy for losing. What does that accomplish? Good job, you get a reward for losing. That makes losing feel accepted, when it should be denied. You should not want to lose, ever. The feeling of improvement is unmatched. I want kids all around the world to improve, but right now, that isn't happening.

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  15. I agree kids shouldnt be rewarded on particicpation. It just defeats the purpose of a person actually winning something or doing something on thier own and not getting rewarded for it. Then the people or kids that actually win or do somehting think they did it for nothing if everyone is getting rewarded for participation.

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  16. I do not believe in "Everyone should get a trophy", that devalues getting a trophy. I know personally that I would not want a "participation trophy", that would make me feel worse. A trophy is something earned. I feel the same people who want everyone to get trophies are the same people who want minimum wage to be $15. Minimal skill = minimum wage, same goes for the trophy deal, minimum effort = no trophy.

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  17. I agree with Yale Professor Erika Christakis that kids should be raised to think they are unique and special. But I believe that participation trophies should be given out. A kid should have to work to get a trophy or a good grade. They shouldn't just get a trophy for showing up. They need to work for it and feel the pride of actually working for something.

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  18. I agree with David because I think if we all got trophies we wouldn't work for anything. I think if you get a trophy you should have to work for it, you shouldn't just get stuff handed to you in life. People now days think that we should just get stuff handed to us that everything should be fair, but life's not fair, if you want something work for it.

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  19. I kinda disagree with David, because it is true that we are not special if we compare ourselves with the millions of people that live in the world, but you are always going to now somebody that is better in something that other, and that makes him or her special. You are never going to know all the people in the world, so why not say you are special? Also, I think participation trophies could be good for kids under maybe 6 so they think they are good at it and keep doing it. But if you give a teenager o more than 6 years old kid a trophy is not gonna make the same "impact".

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  20. I agree with David we should earn our reward by working hard for it. When things are handed to us we slack off because we know no matter what we do we will still be rewarded. In the real world you will have to work to receive anything not one thing is handed to you.

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  21. I agree with David. When I heard him say, "When every is special, no one is special", I realized how true it was. We all grow up being told that we're different and unique from everyone else, but it isn't really true. Anyone can do anything, some people just have to work harder to accomplish those things. Being told that we can do something other's can't isn't true, since we are all capable of doing the same things.

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  22. I think the guy in the speech is correct. Sometimes the truth hurts and we need to know the truth. I do think that everyone is special in there own way but other than that we are all the same in this world. We have the same competition, most of everybody has the same experiences such as going to school, graduating, football games.. etc.. Just some people get to experience better things and that's is because they choose to be involved or to be better than normal.

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  23. I agree you should not get a trophy for losing. What does that accomplish? Good job, you get a reward for losing. That makes losing feel accepted, when it should be denied. You should not want to lose, ever. The feeling of improvement is unmatched. I want kids all around the world to improve, but right now, that isn't happening. When you give a kid a trophy for trying to be good and for trying to win he won't actually know what winning is. Winning is going day in and day out giving everything you got in that one game , that season, that tournament. If you do that and do everything you should win. Winners are the ones that try their hardest, sometimes have more skills than you, but also are trying to get that trophy that you deserve because you beat everyone or you were the fastest runner. If you gave your all but didn't win the race you still win in your own way like beating who you were last week or last year, but you don't deserve a trophy or medal like the actual winner got, I think you have to earn the meals and trophy's and hard work and dedication will get you there but even if you do hard work it doesn't mean you still get a medal, even if you give 100% and do hard work doesn't mean your always going to win, your not going to win everything.

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  24. I agree with David, on the video. People do different things, that's what makes us all special, and unique. We need to work to have things and to be special, otherwise people are all the same and nobody will have anything to work for. I know that in cross country I do better when I have a competition. We might not always win trophies but we don't cheat, like other teams, but we still do the best that we can to medal and place, as a team, together.

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    1. I agree with you because to do the same things and be given the same praise is not showing that people are special and unique in each of their own ways.

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  25. I agree that we should not give out trophies to everyone. The reason I think that is because we should not allow everyone to think that have have done good when they haven't. I also agree that it is not fair to set kids on the same level of the kids who try and the kids who just show up.

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  26. I disagree with him because everyone should be told that they are special and encouraged to change, do better, and evolve with time. But we do need to find a balance between saying someone is special and someone is the center of attention in everything. So, I don't think I believe that we should be giving everybody trophies even when it seems to come down to "we're just giving everyone trophies for nothing now!"

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  27. I somewhat disagree with David,because what he said about being not special is true and not true. Because almost everybody their own mind think that "I'm special". And that is true you are special in your own way. You think that because it makes you feel good inside and that you can do anything your put your mind too. So I agree to disagree with David. Also giving out trophy's out to little kids for playing a sport doesn't have the same effect on teenagers as it does on little kids.

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  28. I disagree with both on some, but also agree with both on some. I disagree with David about how he says that not everyone is special. But I do agree how he says that not everyone should get a trophy for nothing. I think that rewarding people for doing nothing or for losing is not teaching them anything. I think they should have to work for their trophies that they win, or at least deserve. If a child gets a trophy for losing all of the time or for just doing plain out nothing than that is not teaching them or causing them to want to become better. They will they become comfortable where they are at, once again not causing them to want to become better at what they are doing since they are getting rewarded for what it is that they are doing.

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