The Average of Excellence

Back to my own life’s story for a second for another great example of this. At my first college, I was studying engineering and giving it my best shot. And yet, the report cards kept coming in with C’s and the occasional jump up or down into B or D range. I was holding a nice, 2.3 GPA at one of the hardest engineering schools in the country.

And yet, because I had a D+ in a particular class at midterms – a grade dependent on a single assignment – my advisor looked at that D+ and my 2.3 GPA and told me to my face I wasn’t cut out to be an engineer and should rethink my major and my career plans.

I instead chose to rethink my college of choice, but that’s another story.

Life’s hard enough for college students without the constant demand on them to be better, to strive harder, to be perfect at what they do. People need to be careful even with the little things they say about how hard they push the students. Little things can cause students to put even more pressure on themselves and some, unfortunately, snap under the pressure.

This new concept of the average of excellence doesn’t seem to be generating a new generation of people capable of continuing in the American line of excellence, either. How many people have been pushed out of college or moved out of their majors who could have done something profound if given the chance? How will we replace this nation’s leaders, engineers, scientists, and doctors if we only allow those who meet our levels of perfection into our schools?

Excellence should be celebrated, not expected. Success should be encouraged and praised, not condemned as “not good enough.” Even in saying that, aren’t we truly saying “You did well, but I’m still not happy”?

I think those people demanding perection should take a long look at themselves and ask where they would be today if they had been required to be perfect all along.