When outcome becomes more important than process
Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 06:04AM ... this generation of highly accomplished, college-bound students have been robbed of their independence because they have been raised in a petri dish for one purpose only: to attend an elite college that ensures their and their families' economic and social status. Instead of being nurtured towards real curiosity and a genuine sense of citizenship, these millennials are conditioned to think that everything they do is for the purpose of looking good in the eyes of admissions officers and employers: you earn good grades not because they mean you are learning something, but rather because they will help you stand out from your peers when applying to the Ivies. You engage in community service not because you wish genuinely to make a positive difference in the lives of others but rather because that is how you burnish your resume -- service as check-off box. You play sports not because they build character and teamwork and are a whole lot of fun, but because you want to try to get recruited for a college team. You study art or music not because you wish to refine your understanding of human nature, creativity and culture but because it will help you look smarter. Michael Mulligan The Three Most Important Questions You Can Ask Your Teenager HuffPo, Jan 20, 2015
Long time educator, Michael Mulligan asks why so many of today's kids are depressed, despite their affluence, their sense of social responsibility, and their ambition. After painting a compelling case that we have "raised a generation that is plagued with insecurity, anxiety and despair," Mulligan summarizes:
... when we teach our children that outcomes are more important than process they lose the ability to enjoy learning for its own sake. Everything becomes about the end-game. The problem is that the end game - whether it turns out as they anticipated or not - is often not intrinsically rewarding."
So what's the fix? The author suggests that instead of questioning kids about grades, teams, awards, and other extrinsic measures of success, we need to help them answer 1) Who tells us who we are?, 2) Where do we want to go with our lives, and 3) How do we want to get there?
Should this advice hold true for teachers and guidance counselors as well as parents?
Not surprisingly, I learned of this article from my daughter via a Facebook share. Coming from a family that enjoys respectable but not especially high social standing (cripes, her mother and I are both in education after all), perhaps it is easier to raise children who do not simply see education as a means of attaining or maintaining wealth and power. Carrie, her husband, and her boys seem to be a pretty happy crew and I would imagine that indirectly they ask my grandsons Mulligan's three questions often. These boys get good grades, they participate in music and sports, and are active in church and scouting. When they do community service, I rather doubt it will be for a little extra gloss on the Harvard application form. Thank goodness.
Read Mulligan's post.
Reader Comments (2)
Still trying to have students understand that the process is more important than the outcome. Unfortunately, I am often the lonely voice in the wilderness. And I am beginning to believe that the only way we as high school teachers will really have educational change is when the grading and acceptance system of colleges and universities change. It has been very difficult to discuss learning with students when their focus is grades.
How much would I love to give the student who really worked, really failed, really got up from those failures and were successful the A's...
Hi Kenn,
I am guessing you are in the majority of teachers on this one. Why mess with grades at all - why do performance based assessment with notices given for exemplary work? It will indeed take a change in social norms before this happens, I'm afraid. But we need to keep working on it...
Doug​