Mediocrity for everyone.....it's better that way!

"Son, I'm sorry, but you're just too good to play in this league, and if you want to continue to play you're going to have to quit scoring so many touchdowns."  This is a true story that was recently reported in the news across the nation. Where it occurred is not important, but the fact that it happened speaks volumes.

Can you imagine being eleven years old and having the best time of your life playing football, only to have your coach relate that you'll have to quit playing your "A" game if you want to stay on the team?  What a bunch of BS! If there was ever a perfect example of why this country is struggling to maintain its competitive edge, this is it.

Whether in the classroom, recreational sports, class plays, art class, or in the selection of all-star teams, we've removed competition from the equation.  Over the course of the last thirty years or so, someone decided that competition was a bad thing.  It created stress for our children by recognizing winners and losers in everything we do, and that's just unacceptable. Guess what,  even if you don't keep score, the players still know who the winners are.

But, I guess it's been decided that it's best to create a level of mediocrity across the board!

I'm sorry, but I disagree. Having coached sports for many years, and supervising/managing hundreds of people in the work force, I'll attest to the fact that all people are not created equal.  Some are excellent writers, some are excellent musicians, some are great artists, but none of them excel at everything they try to do. That doesn't mean we give them all a blue ribbon or trophy for just trying. The biggest disservice we can do is to mislead someone into thinking they're a better (?) than they really are.

The worst thing we can do is to reward sub-standard performance and to penalize excellence.

Maybe this old man is just way out of step with what is "politically correct", but I've been on both sides of this issue and we are now reaping the benefits of a policy that is just flat wrong. If you don't reward excellence, those who have the ability to excel, don't.  Likewise, if you continue to reward mediocre performance, those who excel at mediocrity continue to believe that it is acceptable.

Surely I'm not the only one who feels this way, but maybe so, 'cause after all, what do I know?