Why our kids don't try harder

OK, so this is a bit far fetched, but here is a thought.  One of the reasons education in America is falling behind is that children are no longer driven to succeed, but rather just to pass.  They are taught to pass tests, not necessarily to learn.  They are shown over and over that just passing is enough.  They now graduate from each level of school from kindergarten to college in the somewhat misdirected theory that, because so many will not graduate from college or high school, they are graduated from middle school to show they have accomplished something.  Kids are given trophies for participating, not excelling.  Score isn't kept in little kids' games because we don't want them to dote on winning.

Mediocrity is seen as the goal. (Since first publishing this, I've received the following comment, "The goal is to be the best you can be...but we don't want you to have to work too hard to get there", to which I replied, "The goal we are teaching isn't to be the best you can be, but only be good enough to get the prize - that's my definition of mediocrity."

If Coach Vince Lombardi was running NASCAR, the standings after yesterday's Atlanta race would be

1 & 2.  Jimmie Johnson & Dennie Hamlin tied with 5 wins each
3 & 4   Kevin Harvick & Kyle Busch tied with 3 wins each
5 & 6  Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray tied with two wins each
7, 8, 9, 10 & 11  Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann, & Juan Pablo Montoya tied with 1 win each

Instead, NASCAR in all its wisdom, gives points for so many different things that Lombardi's philosophy of "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" goes completely out the window.

Here's the NASCAR standings
1   Kevin Harvick - THREE wins
2   Jeff Gordon - ZERO wins
3.  Kyle Busch - THREE wins
4.  Tony Stewart  - ONE win
5.  Carl Edwartds - ZERO wins
6.  Jeff Burton - ZERO wins
7.  Jimmie Johnson - FIVE wins
8.  Kurt Busch - TWO wins
9.  Matt Kenset - ZERO wins
10. Denny Hamlin - FIVE wins
11. Greg Biffle - ONE win
12. Clint Bowyer - ZERO wins

Outside the top twelve places are four drivers with wins:
13 Ryan Newman - ONE win
14 Jamie McMurray - TWO wins
16 David Reutiman - ONE win
17 Juan Pablo Montoya - ONE win


No wonder our kids aren't driven to succeed.  Jeff Gordon, without a win to his record all year is in second place - "See kiddies, if you play safe and finish well you, too, can become rich and famous.  Don't worry about winning, that's too risky."