Teaching our Children the Value of Achievement

Individualism is valuable, but the high octane additive that makes it drive our society and economy forward is achievement. What good is it to be a unique individual if you don’t achieve anything for your world? A good summary of the hippie generation is ‘principled’ existence without achievement, and we all saw what a total failure for society that was.

As we discussed, achievement is frowned upon by the public education establishment in favor of an equal outcome, paper doll approach where each child turns out about the same: Average.

“The basic proposal of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be 'undemocratic.' Children who are fit to proceed may be artificially kept back, because the others would get a trauma by being left behind.” – C.S. Lewis

Even in the adult world, achievement is a touchy subject. Take affirmative action for example. If you have the right racial mix or ethnic background, your performance has no bearing on your position in a college or organization, especially within the government. Just show up, occupy that cubicle and claim your paycheck. And people who do achieve without the benefit of affirmative action are disrespected by the Paraducers who manage the system of underachievement.

When I was in high school, I was sometimes embarrassed to get good grades, though overall I was only average. When I got to college, the challenging environment pushed me to excel, and my grades went up dramatically. The other students treated me as an oddball, not an outcast exactly, but as something you might see in a Ripley’s museum and speculate, “Look here, Mabel -- wonder how that happened?” There is a definite pressure in our society to conform and not rock the boat by achieving too much.

I say hogwash to that, and as a Producer you have executed a decent share of achievement already. Even if you are not as educated as you would like, you cannot be a Producer without some glint of achievement. You need to turn up that tiny pilot light into a blowtorch-blue-hot jet of flaming plasma, pour achievement on your individualism, and take hold of the success you do not deserve by right of birth (because no one does) but have earned.

How do you do that? You set reasonable incremental goals. Every day you must learn, must do, must grow. Every day. Do not turn the light off at night before learning something more about your job, or spouse, or children, or boss, or garden, or whatever drives you ahead to Produce. The Paraducers despise this because it is completely uncontrollable by their system of entrenched power and mediocrity.

Leave the negative people eating your dust. Paraducers and Consumers can be negative, along with some Producers. If they insist on loading you down with that junk, a good smile and cheerful “good morning” is usually enough to repel them, for they seek commiseration. This is not just the power of positive thinking, it’s the power of positive action!

Pile achievement on achievement, success on success. Do not be afraid to fail, and when you do, learn something from it and pile that on your last achievement and use it as the basis for your next success. Getting fired for doing your best is no insult.

“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” – C.S. Lewis

Teach your kids achievement, not at the expense of others, but at the expense of their pride and the time they would otherwise waste in front of the television. We cannot help but pass others in our journey, but we are not stepping on them, just jogging by them and their crumb sprinkled family room sofas on our way to the work and play we love as Producers.

Achieve yourself, and teach it to your kids.