Every high schooler has the opportunity to look back at there high school career 20 years after graduation and ask the question “Did I change the status quo in high school?” Seth Godin suggests that everyone has deep within themselves a desire to change the status quo. High school students are no different, the millennial generation still wants to change the status quo as much as every other generation they are just utilizing a different set of tools. In the past high schoolers have depended the industrial system of changing the status quo; working harder than anyone else. The problem is that the industrial system relies on an increase in talent and an increase in hard work, but we have run out of both. Godin suggests that the business world has already made the change from industrialism to the idea of tribes. High schoolers ought to make a shift from doing more and working harder to working in student-led groups. For …show more content…
years high schoolers have desired not to be the leaders of tomorrow but rather to be the leaders of today. This has led students to compete vigorously to do more and work harder in an attempt to change the status quo. There is however a problem with this, high schoolers are not challenging the status quo, but they are rather just trying to do more and work harder. Corporate America has recently gone through a shift from the industrialist idea of doing more and working harder to the idea of working in tribes; a small group of highly dedicated individuals. High schoolers are no different and in order to change the status quo in the 21st century they must work in student-led groups. High schoolers have the power to make a difference in the world today.
In the summer of 2013, a group of high schoolers gathered to dream up the idea of starting a student-led christian ministry on the campus of Urbandale High School. All of the students involved were regular Urbandale High School students; there were no pastors, there were no theologians, there were not even adults. Despite impossible odds this group of students managed to accomplish their goal and created a student-led ministry called Catalyst that is still at Urbandale today. This movement was created completely by students that the world would say were unqualified to lead a ministry. Somehow they managed to accomplish the impossible through the use of a small student-led group of like-minded individuals. What could it look like if more high school students decided to get together with like-minded individuals and change the status quo? This simple idea has the potential to be implemented in every high school in the United States and impact thousands of
people. The idea of working in small tribes is a very old idea that goes back thousands of years and continually works. “What tribes are, is a very simple concept that goes back 50,000 years. It's about leading and connecting people and ideas.” (Seth Godin, 6:39). The business world has made a shift from industrialism to working in tribes. The problem with industrialism is that it is dependant on better resources and faster services. When the business world realized that they were running out of better resources and faster services, the idea of tribes came to be. High schoolers across America are still focused on industrialism the idea of doing more and working harder as is seen in sports. This system however depends on better performance and harder work. This seems to fall apart when students max out their potential for performance, and work as hard as they possibly can. Movements change things and competition keeps thing the same.“This method -- mass marketing -- requires average ideas, because you're going to the masses, and plenty of ads.” (Godin 5:13). Mass marketing to high schoolers creates high schoolers all seeing who can do average things the best. Movements, to high schoolers create high schoolers seeing who can create the most good. Movements inspire actions throughout lots of tribes are a more efficient way to spread ideas. High schools students will accomplish more through student-led groups than they ever will trying to work through mass marketed ideas. Students leaders must bind together with other like minded individuals to change the status quo, because if they don’t it might never get changed.
As the economy evolves and the job market continues to get more competitive, it’s becoming harder to have a successful career without some kind of college degree. This creates a belief in many young students that college actually is a commodity, something they must have in order to have a good life. There’s many different factors that influence this mindset, high schools must push the importance of the student’s willingness and drive to further their education. College isn’t just a gateway to jobs, but it is an opportunity to increase knowledge and stretch and challenge the student which in return makes them a more rounded adult and provides them with skills they might lack prior to
From the beginning of high school, students strap on their seatbelts and prepare for one of the most vigorous races of their lives – becoming successful. With the rare occurrence of a break, kids are expected to keep on driving as fast and as powerfully as they can in order to get into a “great” college, which would be followed by graduate school and then an actual job that would make a lot of money. In American society, common values include working hard, determination, and being so productive that free time is not even a question. However, this philosophy is taking a major toll on American college and high school students. For at least 40 years, America’s future has been steadily growing unmotivated, tired, and hopeless due to the overemphasis on performing well in school. This phenomenon is appropriately expounded in William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, which takes a look at the top four sources of tension that cause these feelings of dejection and agitation. After reading this article, I came up with a few solutions to this national problem. It is time to switch the harsh, over-encouraging green light of education to a comfortable yellow one. In order to make this ideal transition, directors of education across the country need to primarily reduce the amount of out-of-class assignments, lighten the grading system, and incorporate days in the school year that allow students to express their thoughts about school and provide useful feedback.
Not So Much” had defended the actions of millennials of which had been misinterpreted as have other generations past. However, “A’s for Everyone” by Alicia C. Shepard had voiced the opposition’s side, focusing the student and often times parent harassment on professors for better grades of which student entitlement as well as the inflation of grades have been to blame. With these two articles, one could conclude that although this most recent generation has been misunderstood, certain factors has made this generation expect some comeuppance. To put it simply, Generation Y had been bashed by its elders for their behaviors seen as immoral, lazy, and even negligent in their roles of society. Although some may have proved to increase efficiency in the workplace as well as in personal relationships, the human trait of entitlement has, in fact, been ubiquitous, especially pertaining to academic
“A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much” written by Catherine Rampell is an informative article about today’s millennial generation after high school. It provides the reader with a deeper look into young people’s work ethic, or what some to think to be, lack-there-of. The author does a fantastic job using research, credible resources, and statistics to support her belief that Generation Y (children born in the 1980s and 1990s) is no less productive than previous generations. I will admit that before reading this piece, I was one of those who believed that Millennials were in fact the “coddled, disrespectful and narcissistic generation” (Rampell, 2011, para 3). After reading this article, my opinion has changed. It has touched on issues
When in fact the high school outsiders become the more successful and admired adults in society. Botstein. states that team sports in high school dominate more than student culture.... ... middle of paper ... ...
High school is one of those milestones in an individual’s life that will be remembered for a long time to come. Whether one’s experiences are positive and allow him to find his purpose in life or whether they are so terrible that his view of education is tainted forever, what happens in high school affects how one’s future will turn out. Leon Botstein, author of “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” states that the traditional high school system should be abolished because it is not benefitting teenagers. He states that cliques of popularity and athleticism and teachers who care more about money than education stand in the way of proper learning for teenagers. Botstein further argues that school stifles students creativity and that they really do not want to be in school. His argument that the traditional high school setting should be abolished is somewhat justified on the fact that cliques make schooling experiences difficult; however, his statement that children’s creativity is stifled, they are bored in high school, and that they are ready to be adults at a young age is invalid.
Students’ wouldn’t be able to hold down a job is the second reason they shouldn’t dropout of high school. Many employers would like to have someone who has been too high school and that have been educated so they can handle money and add things p...
“We are going to do in the future what Americans are doing today. Your job is to invent the future” says Jaithirth Rao of the Indian company MphasiS to Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat (389). America has always been abreast of the latest and greatest ideas and designs. However, America’s position in the world is becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee due the decreasing number of college graduates. Tamar Lewin reports in a New York Times article how a recent study by Complete College America discovered that “despite decades of steadily climbing enrollment rates, the percentage of students making it to the finish line is barely budging” (College Graduation Rates). Why? A simple answer is that a large number of American high schools aren’t adequately preparing their students for college. To reset this trend, good work ethic, innovative courses, and early vocational and technical training should be introduced and encouraged in high schools. Thomas Friedman and his book The World is Flat describe the effects of globalization on the world. Foreign schools are quickly rising to and even surpassing the levels of education in America, putting our place in the world in jeopardy.
The daunting task of violating a social norm, something that I could be ostracized and ridiculed for, I still chose to do. Social norms are the rules of behavior that are considered acceptable in a group or society. Doing weird things in public while surrounded by strangers is a recipe for disaster, especially for somebody like myself. I am awkward and have plenty of trouble talking to new people. Most of us are told not to talk to strangers when we are younger because there are all sorts of crazy people out there. There could not be a better way to break out of my shell and violate a social norm than to sit down and talk to total strangers while they eat.
From the moment I was born I was given a status, I had no say in whether I wanted it or not and along the way; growing up I was given the option to become others. There are two types of statuses that I am currently have an ascribed and achieved status. Growing as a Hmong daughter and a student is hard. Having the title Hmong daughter was ascribed to me and the title student was achieved by me. Living with these two statuses, sometimes they are difficult, but someday I hope together they will take me to a much better place, a higher social class than where I am currently.
This generation of American teenagers and young adults have the greatest advantage in the history of humankind when to comes to advances in technology, science, and every other field of study. Yet, today’s youth of America is facing obstacles that past generations did not have to deal with. According to Josh Mitchell, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, student loan debt has surpassed one trillion dollars with two-thirds of college students graduating with over thirty-five thousand dollars of debt each. Competition for jobs has made it progressively harder to find a stable job and make a living. According to Hardin’s metaphor of the world being a lifeboat, it is increasingly difficult for people who are not on the lifeboat to find away
Charles Murray, the author of “What’s Wrong With Vocational School?” discusses how too many of today’s high school graduates wrongfully head off to a four-year college. For a large majority of the population, a college education is unnecessary. Murray says that a lot of students don’t even want an advanced education. Even if they do want an education, they aren’t qualified for it. Additionally, a large number of these students are striving for an education or experience that a four-year college isn’t meant to fulfill.
Conformity is the process of understanding to majority influence and is defined by David Myers (1991) as a change in behavior or belief a result of real or imagined group pressure
Conformity is a concept that has intrigued psychologists for decades; a concept that has been the foundation of numerous studies, books, and that has been subtly woven into the media. Most of the research done on conformity has to do with what can cause conforming behavior and when conforming behavior is most prevalent. There are generally two types of influences that can cause conforming behavior, informational social influences and normative social influence. Both deal with the when and why of conformity in society and what situations typically cause a group or one or two people to conform. The most powerful and dangerous type of conformity is conformity to authority, which can cause people to obey orders that they would normally not follow in any other situation. With that being said, informational social influence can fuel conforming behavior, especially in instances when the situation is a crisis, ambiguous, and when other people in the situation have authority or expertise.
Colin Wilson once said, "The Average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain." A conformist is a person who conforms to accepted behavior or established practices. That means someone who follows others, whether it is about decision making or their attitude. In today 's society I would say that most of the people are conformist, this includes both teenagers and adults. Being a conformist in my opinion can be bad and good for various reasons. If the attitude of the specific person has changed for the better, such as a snobby boy/girl becoming more respectful, that it definitely a positive change. Other people can change their attitude for