There's been a lot of talk about social justice lately. Well, I guess it's not just lately, but I've been hearing about it more than usual. Social Justice stems from a nice idea, that everyone deserves the same opportunity in life. I agree with this concept to a point. That point is opportunity. Discrimination is wrong. I should have the same chance of landing a job as anyone else, regardless of race, religion, gender, and so on. I should have the same chance to succeed in life as well, and I believe I do. Sure, some people are born with advantages that I could never even dream of. Some are disadvantaged through no fault of their own as well. That's life. I can either whine about it, or do my best to make everything I can of every opportunity that presents itself to me. The problem comes when we try to artificially level the playing field. The playing field was never meant to be level, and no machinations can make it so.
I don't know about you, but when I was growing up we didn't get a trophy for participation. We may have gotten some credit for perfect attendance or some other token that acknowledged our effort, but that was it. They say that half of being successful in life is just showing up. While this may be true, that leaves the other half for actually doing something of worth while you're there. Trophy's were reserved for people who excelled in something, not for those who merely showed up. Encouragement is wonderful, but not at the expense of a true feeling of accomplishment. If everyone gets a trophy, doesn't that diminish the act of winning. I understand that urge to not make a child feel the pain of failure, but isn't that where most motivation stems from? The fear of failure is a powerful motivation to succeed. If one never experiences failure, one can never know the joy of overcoming that failure and achieving something truly noteworthy. I point to the story of a young man who was cut from his JV basketball team in High School. From that experience, he developed the drive that made him into the greatest basketball player since Dr Naismith hung a peach basket on a pole. Would Michael Jordan have been Mike if his school had a no-cut policy? I don't know, but since the thing that pushed him the most was his hyper-competitiveness, possibly spawned by his failures as a child, I doubt it.
I'm no psychologist, but I do know that you can't truly enjoy succes unless you have experienced failure. If we continue to shield our children from anything that might make them cry, if we continue to reward them for just showing up, if we continue to teach them that, regardless of the outcome, we're all winners, what are we teaching them? We are teaching them that mediocrity is okay. That they only need to raise their hand and say "here" to get an A in class. They will begin to feel entitled. And that is the death rattle of the nation as we know it. America was founded on the principle that if you work hard and succeed, you will be rewarded. We are teaching our children that hard work and success are no more important than just showing up, and just showing up is enough to reap the same benefits as the person that busted their tails to make something from nothing. We are robbing our children of the American Dream. And that is unconscionable.