Burlington High School
Burlington, Kansas
Teacher: Mrs. Parker
The Perfect Place
By Ashley Weeks
12th grade
Growing up all children are awarded for their good actions. Whether it’s a gold star on a math test or a cookie when a child first uses the toilet, our society is prone to reward those that do well. Children often strive not only to deserve an award but to beat the other students; it’s their natural competitive nature. Though, many youths today seem to not be striving as hard for that gold star. Is it because the meaning behind it has become lost over the course of years, or is it because America has lost the drive for excellence in the 21st century?
What is excellence? Excellence is defined as the quality of excelling and possessing good qualities in a high degree. Excellence, to me, has a more meaningful definition. To me, to be excellent, one must strive to rise to one’s highest potential, but do it in a way that is graceful and tactful. It is not so much the reward or position a person receives, but it’s the manner in which he/she strives to attain it.
America has a wide variety of people with different beliefs, backgrounds, and ambitions. A part of the people that make up the American population that really set themselves apart from the rest is the youth. Young people are faced with many different, more compelling situations than their parents. Yet, most are still striving to achieve the same type of goals that their parents aimed for. Most youths want the same goals, a good job, a place to live, family, and to be able to support their families. So, by achieving this very goal, are they really reaching a point of excellence? I believe so; the standard of excellence is to achieve one’s highest potential. By living one’s life to the fullest, reaching the goals that a person sets for herself, and staying true to her faith, a person can, I believe achieve the highest level of excellence possible.
Though, with times changing, is it safe to say that many youths have given up on the idea that they can achieve all they want be? Many teens today are bogged down with school, work, sports, family life, and pier pressure. Most believe that there is no simple way to achieve what they might want, so what is the point of even trying? This is the biggest mistake our country has made. For some reason today’s youth have come up with the notion that they can’t be whatever they want to be; this is a direct contradiction from how society views young people today. When out parents were our ages the elderly supported them and told them to strive for whatever their dreams were. Now, teens are told to do what they have to do to get by. Inner city kids are never asked to do more or try to be better. It is just accepted that an inner city teen is not going to make it into a top college or go onto be one of the leaders of America. This attitude, however, is dead wrong.
Somewhere along the way the adults of today have lost track of the idea of excellence; they have adopted the idea that just getting by is good enough. This idea wasn’t good enough when they were young! Is this because they do not want to pressure children to strive as much as they were pushed? It might be; I hear several of parents say now that they just want their child to do the best they can, but what they are not asking themselves is what the best is? While a C on a test might be average and passing, it is not achieving excellence if the student is capable of receiving an A or a B.
My parents have always told me to do my best, but they are also very aware of what I am capable of doing when I want to. I have always pushed myself to do the very best I could. If I don’t receive the grade on an assignment that I think I should have received, I have to ask myself if I truly did my best. There is not one single aspect of my life that I do not try to give 100%. I know that by not striving to do better, I’m only cheating myself out of what I could achieve and I’m not truly following the path God has planned for me. Excellence isn’t an idea that I strive for; I strive to be me, to do what I know I can do, and to achieve all of the goals that I have made for myself. In my mind once I achieve everything that I and God have planned for myself, and then I will achieve a state of excellence.
America is an amazing place to grow up. Today’s youth have so many more opportunities than what our grandparents had, though I find that many are not striving to utilize these gifts. Rather, it is from the lack of moral support, money, education, or just lack of desirer many teens are not living up to their potential. This is very sad. When I close my eyes, I can imagine a world where we all strive to be better, and this world is more beautiful than words can express. I wish I could say that as time goes by more young people will strive to reach for this place, but I cannot honestly do so. I know that I’m trying to be the kind of person that God wants me to be, and I’m trying to strive to be better and do more. I can only imagine what the world would be like if we all would strive for this common goal.
Answers To Questions Re: Required Reading
Q1- Am I really where I want to be?
At this
point in my life I feel that I am where I’m supposed to be at this time. I’m a
senior in high school with college in my future, and the future seems bright.
Q2- Am I moving in the direction that will enable me to make the greatest contribution?
I believe
so, I’m heading off to college where I hope to major in Mass Media, and than I
want to attend law school. I feel that I can make a difference and really help
people. I was raised in a family that was very supportive and taught me good
Christian values. I believe that I can spread goodness to others through my
life experience.
Q3- If I could achieve my highest goals, what would my accomplishments look like?
If I could
accomplish my highest goals it would be to be able to be the type of lawyer
that helps those that are in need. That I’m the type of person that sets a
good example, a person that others can look to and
count on. However, my great goal in life is just to be the best Christian
person I can be and that I fallow the path God has planed for me.
Q4- Do I recognize excellence and search it out or do I find mediocre acceptable and am willing to settle?
I have
always realized that mentality that no one should ever settle. That when do
you something that you should give it all you have, because if you don’t than
you aren’t living up to your full potential.
Q5- Do I seek out people, books, movies and other things that encourage me to be the best I can be?
I try to
surround myself with inspirational people and things. One of my most favorite
movies in Remember the Titians, it is just such a
empowering story about young people over coming all odds and achieving their
goals. I think when people achieve the goals they have set for themselves that
is only of the best ways to reach the level of excellence.
Q6- Do I recognize the best in others?
I believe
that everyone has good qualities about them. It’s up to everyone to reach out
to one another and really look into a persons’ heart. If we all choose to look
at only the negative of people and things than we are not really giving
everyone a chance to show us all what they are really like. I’m a strong
believe that we all must give each other a chance and really try to understand
and support everyone. When I first meet someone I don’t think about what could
be wrong with them or what they might do that I may not; but I try to force on
what is something new that they might bring into my life. What new thing could
I learn just by knowing this person.
Time Article
Q7- Do you agree with Morrow (paragraph seven) that: "Excellence demands standards. It does not usually flourish in the midst of rapid, hectic change. This century’s sheer velocity has subverted the principle of excellence; a culture must be able to catch its breath."
Yes, I agree with them.
People that come from different backgrounds have different standards, values,
and ideas of what they believe excellence truly is.
Q8- Interpret this quote from paragraph nine: "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion."
That people that only
ease through life without striving for more or to do better are not really
living. That they are just doing what they have to do to get by and that they
will later have to pay for that.
Q9- Argue pro and con
Morrow's contention that "Americans not yet successful (the struggling, the
underclass) are apt to aim at ease, not excellence" ?
Q10- Explain what Morrow means when he says (A) "the confusion contaminates character and disables ambition." Do you agree?
That what people strive
for and how a person lives their life displays the truest form of them.
That a person can learn a lot about another person by
supplely just watching how they interact with people and seeing what they are
trying to strive for.
Q11- Argue pro and con the effect of over stimulation and under stimulation as discussed in paragraph 10.
The pros for over
stimulation is that a person has to work that much harder to achieve what they
want to. It really allows others to see who is committed to achieve great
things in life, and those who are simple just going not to try for anything
more. The con of over stimulation is that a person might become distracted and
they will never achieve what they can. However if a person is under stimulated
than a person’s brain may not be able to think and be as creative and strive
for everything it could. There has to be a happy middle between the two.
Q12- Contrast practical excellence with metaphysical excellence as used in Morrow's last paragraph.
Practical excellence
is knowing what a person is able to achieve and
what they are not. It is knowing the limits of man
and not trying to strive past those limits. However, metaphysical excellence
is the idea that you can do whatever you want. The idea that even if it seems
not possible in some way it is. It allows you I believe to be able to trust
the higher power and know that you can be who you want to be.
Quotations from Key 32 found at the end of your required reading
Q13- Copy and interpret your two favorite quotes. Explain why you chose them.
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
To me this quote is an example of a true truth. So much lately I see people trying to be happy through the wrong things. They believe that other people, a job, money, all of the physical things can make them happy if they are unhappy. But the truth is that unless you can make yourself happy with yourself no one will ever be able to bring joy into your life.
We should make a special effort to be that which we want to others to think we are. We must do our duties, complete out tasks, be kind and honest. “It is not alone what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.”- Moliere (1622-1673)
I love this quote. It explains a very simple concept that many have of us have forgotten. That we have to do what we know is right, be the people we know e can be. That it is not just what we do that we are judged on but what we don’t do that we should have done. The part that explains that we will be held accountable for it is so true, because when we are taken home to God he will judge us by what we did on earth and what we didn’t.