Kadoka High School
Kadoka, South Dakota
Teacher: Teresa Shuck
Have We Abandoned Excellence
By Kayla Peterson
11th grade
Excellence is the condition of excelling. Excelling is surpassing a goal. Everyone in the world surpasses goals. A goal may be as minute as making your bed every day or as colossal as a paraplegic learning to walk again.
We have abandoned excellence in some areas but have prospered in others. Many people today misuse the word excellent. Walking out of a basketball game, one may say, “That was an excellent game,” or “That was an excellent hot dog.” How can you compare seeing a basketball game and seeing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? How can you compare a hot dog to Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000? How can all these things be excellent?
The Olympics is a prime example of excellence. Every four years people around the world compete to be the best there is. Constantly, records are being broken. As the years go by, it becomes harder and harder to break the records. The times get shorter, the scores get higher, and the weights get heavier. The Olympics started in 1869, and time after time records have been broken. A broken record is proof of excellence. I am sure that in the first Olympic games no one imagined a woman could run a 100-meter dash in 10.54 seconds, but in 1988 it happened. There are so many people yearning to break and hold an Olympic record. I believe they will all be broken time and time again; it’s just a matter of when.
I believe that the world has excelled the most in the technological industry. Fifty years ago, my grandmother would have never imagined being able to see her picture instantly on a digital camera, talk on a phone in the middle of nowhere, or receive a letter in seconds from a her grandson in Iraq. If you would have told her fifty years ago that she would be able to do these things, she would have chuckled and told you that you had quite an imagination.
I have always been taught to do my personal best. My best may not be the same as your best. What is excellent to me may be simple to you. You can only do your personal best and surpass your own goals. Just because you haven’t broken a world record doesn’t mean you’re not excelling.
The word excellent can be used in many areas. There are excellent musicians, athletes, teachers, foods, paintings, cars, and houses. Just about anything could be excellent in some sort of way. When I think of excellence, I don’t think of material things or achievements. I think of an excellent friend, parent, and mentor. They may not be Michael Jordan, climb Mount Everest, or have a million dollars, but they are loyal, honest, loving, and encouraging. If you think of an excellent person, you may think of a life-saving doctor who earns a couple hundred thousand of dollars a year, owns five cars, and lives in a mansion. They have excellent possessions, but do they have time for their family? The person to whom he saved a life may think he’s the best person in the world, but what do his children think of him? Do his children know him? When he works sixty hours a week and is on call 24 hours a day, do you think they get to see much of him? Has he ever seen an entire school concert or soccer game of his kids’? Has he read them a bedtime story or played catch with them? If he has, he must not sleep because his job wouldn’t allow him this kind of time.
Has your perspective of excellence changed yet? When you die are people going to remember the Most Valuable Player award you received your senior year of football, or that ten thousand-dollar bonus you received, or the perfect car you drove? If they do, that just tells you what they liked about you. A true friend will remember the time you carried them four blocks home after you wrecked your bikes racing. They will remember the time you gave up your weekend ski trip to stay home with them and talk about how stupid all men are over a gallon of rocky road ice cream. I have yet to mention a person more excellent than this. While some people spend all of their time trying to be the best at everything, they forget the simple things that matter most.
Questions
Q1: Am I really where I want to be?
I think I am where I want to be. I have never really thought about that before. I always figured I was stuck where I am until I turn 18 but I am glad I am where I am both location-wise and achievement-wise. I live in a nice area with a loving family. School and sports are quite well. I have had some set backs but am still going strong.
Q2: Am I moving in the direction that will enable me to make the greatest contribution?
I am moving in a good direction. I could be moving at a higher speed though. I have made a good contribution to my school, teams, and community. I plan to continuing making a good contribution to the world when I graduate.
Q3: If I could achieve my highest goals, what would my accomplishments look like?
When I first read this question I thought that my accomplishments would be vast. But then I thought of my goals and realized my goals were not very high. I try to make the best of the here and now so in the future when I reflect on what I’ve done I am satisfied. When I look ten years into the future I just hope to be happy. Maybe my achievements don’t look as high because they are focused more on happiness than athletic achievements, money, and status in life. I don’t care what my job is or how much money I am making as long as I am happy and enjoy my job. Many people that have high-paying jobs and are on the high end of the pay scale, but they are stressed and have no time for their families. They may be highly successful in the work force but do their kids think very highly of them?
Q4: Do I recognize excellence and search if out or do I find mediocre acceptable and am willing to settle?
I find mediocre acceptable and settle for what I have. I am happy where I am. I don’t think everyone in the world has to be so called excellent at everything. I am one of the top students in my class, but not the number one student. I can settle for that. I am proud of where I am and I am proud of the number one student. It takes hard work to get to where I am and to be the number one student. It takes humility to be proud of the person ahead of you. Sometimes that is harder than becoming number one. I am an average athlete and am proud of that also. I’m not number one but I am a good team player and am a big asset to the team. The highest scoring player on your team may be the best statistically but does he or she hold the team together, teach them how to become better, and represent good sportsmanship? The most valuable player on your team is not the one who scores the most but the one who sets aside his or her own goals and helps the rest of the team achieve theirs. They think not only of their own interests, but the interests of others.
Q5: Do I seek out people, books, movies and other things that encourage me to be the best I can be?
I’ve always been very independent and self-disciplined and mostly encourage myself to be the best I can be. I haven’t always had the best coaches and was forced to coach myself. This has helped me greatly. I don’t look toward other people for encouragement as much as I do myself. There are a few people who have encouraged me greatly though. My parents and friends encourage me in everything I do. The only book I read is the Bible and it has been my number one motivator. I don’t watch many movies because I think it is a waste of my valuable time where I could be doing something more constructive.
Q6: Do I recognize the best in others?
I aim to look at the best in others. I try not to judge others on their outward appearance but on what I know about them personally.
Q9- Do you agree with Morrow 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.”?
Excellence does demand standards. There has been great change with technology. Excellence has not been subverted.
Q7- Interpret this quote from paragraph nine: “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.”
To me, this quote means that those who sit back and do not aim to do the best they can, will be sorry. Those who do not work hard will receive the punishment.
Q8- Argue pro and con Morrow’s contention that “Americans not yet successful (the struggling, the underclass) are apt to aim at ease, not excellence”?
A person struggling would be aiming at ease because that is better than where they are now. It is hard to become excellent when you can barely imagine moderate.
Q9- Explain what Morrow means when he says (A) “the confusion contaminates character and disables ambition.” Do you agree?
There is confusion between ease and excellence. I don’t believe this is true. When I think of excellence I think of hard work, not ease. If you’re aiming at ease, you’re contaminating your character and ambition. If you’re aiming at excellence, you’re focused on your ambitions.
Q10- Argue pro and con the effect of over stimulation and under stimulation as discussed in paragraph 10.
The pro of over stimulation is that there is all of the information to be looked at, and the con knows what to look at. The pro of under stimulation is you would be more relaxed and open to receive the information, and the con would be that there is no motivation.
Q11- Contrast practical excellence with metaphysical excellence as used in Morrow’s last paragraph.
Practical excellence is the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. A Big Mac is metaphysical excellence. The world today looks more at metaphysical excellence. They say, “That game was excellent. That meal was excellent. That movie was excellent.” But, how can you compare a movie to a painting that was created centuries ago by a man lying on his back and hanging from the ceiling? How can you compare a Big Mac to Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000? From this point of view it looks as though we have abandoned excellence.
Q12- Copy and interpret your two favorite quotes. Explain why you chose them.
“Our lives are only as good as we decide to make them. We should make short and long range plans and then follow them through, reviewing them as we go. It is our design and determination that decide our destiny, and this is our responsibility. When things are not right, we should blame nobody, for that only dodges the problems that lie within us and causes us to fail again next time. Examine your own actions and decide how things will be.”
I like this quote because it is very true. Many people complain about their lives but they must be doing something to make their lives that way. People who complain about being overweight should exercise more and eat properly. People who hate their jobs should either find a job they enjoy or doing something different to enjoy the one they are at. People who complain that their life isn’t exciting enough should go bowling on the weekends or just doing something different. If you sit around and complain about what makes you unhappy nothing is going to get accomplished. Your life doesn’t miraculously become better by sitting around complaining about it. You must do something about it.
It is also true that blaming our problems is wrong. People who want to lose weight blame their problem on McDonald’s. Is a meal that’s prepared in two minutes by high school drop out being paid minimum wage really all that good? People who complain about their jobs are probably miserable because they aren’t putting all of their energy into it and so they aren’t getting all they could out of it. People blame their boredom on not having anything to do. They need to make something happen. It’s as easy as driving to the nearest theme park or starting a game of Monopoly. The theme park’s not going to come to you so you have to go to it.
“Let him who would move the world, first move himself.” – Socrates (BC)
There is much talk about how America has declined in such things as quality, mannerism, and humanity. The quality of America is only going to get better by starting in our homes. We could lower crime rate by teaching our kids right and wrong. We could [improve our] economy by teaching hard work. For a team to improve, each individual player must improve his or herself.