Do You Think There Is A Movement to Kill the Incentive For Hard Work?

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

I really don't want this moved to the Political Page. So please keep it nice.

I think there is a movement to take away the incentive of the young to dream about a better life, to set goals, to work hard for these goals, never give up until you achieve them, and to become a productive member of society.

Not keeping scores in playing games (teaching it is wrong to be competitive), pass and fail grades only in schools (Everyone is equal and it is not your fault to fail even if you refuse to work for your grades), Government bail outs (Don't worry the govenment will look out for you) are some examples.

Walt

[Ridewithme38 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ridewithme38]

I think alot of these moves the general public aren't a big fan of, so while it may have been good in theory to help children get through the tough times with a bit of confidence and help them grow into solid citizens....It's not something thats going to stick around, so no, i don't consider it a 'move' more like an experiment that was attacked by those that didn't understand it

It's a shame, for many reason, most of which i can't discuss because it will get this thread moved to the 'political' section, but one that may get by is the very nature of humans, if you look back through history, way back to the 'hunting and gathering' tribes and even the 'cavemen' you will see that we, as animals are 'pack' animals, while there is always some form of competition, in general we've always looking out for the 'pack' as a whole, our very nature goes against this current model of 'me, me, me' that has sprung up recently, not until recently has it been about stepping on others hands to move up the ladder....and thats the furthest i can go without getting political

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

The "young" today are certainly different. Just off the top of my head, I like their analytical skills, logic, self reliance, emotional intelligence, broad knowledge base, confidence, empathy, entrepreneurial skills and their ability to network using technology. I think they work smart to achieve a high output rather than the 'blood, sweat and tears' of my generation. Don't know any that want bail-outs of any sort, in fact, I've witnessed 2 separate cases where the young person was offered a free business (large client base, low overheads) and said "no thanks, I can build it myself, my way".

I don't like their high consumption of alcohol and their preference to text rather than phone and talk to people. Manners are different and I don't like some of the new trends much.

Can't say I've seen a movement that is attempting to kill the incentive to achieve or encourage them to be unproductive members of society.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Speaking strictly for my own children, I have found the exact opposite to be true.

Both of my children seem to be extremely competitive in attempting to reach their goals in life. My son is going to leave a good job on Wall Street in order to get a business degree. He starts this September. He feels it will better his career.

My daughter is also contemplating getting a masters so she too will have more of an edge in the job market.....So no, my kids want to obtain the best future they can for themselves through schooling, hard work, etc., etc.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Looking at myself and my son at his age now which is 22. I would have to admit that at his age he is way more book smart than I ever was. Even history or known facts he is like a walking encyclopedia But I was way more street smart at his age though he is getting there,

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

I do not think so.

"Not keeping score" happens only in the first year or two of rec & ed to develop the kids' talent. Within that time, most kids either move up to the travel leagues (which are the exact opposite of "not keeping score") or move to something else. My son plays on a house team in the travel league; his team doesn't hold competitive tryouts---its a rec & ed team that moved up en masse. But, they compete fiercely, and have moved up from the lowest Division (6th) three years ago and are now playing in the 1st Division. Oh, and half the team is playing up a year, too.

We go to a hippie school in a hippie town. Even there, the kids are rated in about 30 different dimensions, 3-4 times each year. Standardized testing every year until sixth and seventh grade, then two *different* standardized tests. In 8th grade they add a "junior ACT" exam, and students who do well on that take the regular ACT and measure themselves against high school juniors and seniors. And, while our town is a hippie town it's also a University town. It's not uncommon to have parents with 3-4 different postgraduate degrees between them. The competition is serious.

It is true that in both sports and school, earlier years are less clearly "competitive". But, that's probably okay, because the degree to which "competition" becomes obvious increases each year. That makes sense to me rather than throwing them in the deep end of the pool to start.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Not where I work.

We had a staff meeting yesterday and the message was, "Y'all are doing a fantastic job. Just keep it up. . . . but, before you do what you are already doing each day, we want you to do, this, this, and this. We don't care how long it takes you . . . don't worry about trying to get clocked out early.

Oh yeah, and this, and this, and don't forget to do this.

And, Oh, "We don't have housekeeping anymore, so when you don't have anything else to do, please run through the building and do that. You should never just be doing nothing."

[mpizza Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mpizza]

I think the movement is that the incentive for hard work should be for personal achievement, rather than a good grade, score, or promotion. Young people today recognize there is definitely a trade-off to being in upper management or working 24/7 for the goal of just making big bucks.

The promised pot of gold at the end of retirement is empty, so they need to take ownership of their own career path. If that means working less and foregoing a promotion so they have a better work/life balance, so be it. I noticed that advertisers are using buzz phrases mirroring that trend: "take back your lunch," "take back your weekend," and "take back your vacation days."

That being said, the young people I work with, are focused, creative and productive!

Maria

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

The promised pot of gold at the end of retirement is empty,

Sounds like timesharing.

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

I can't think of any strong disincentives to hard work, so, no, I don't see any "movement" in the young.

As with any generation, there are various people, both motivated and not so much.

[kennyw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kennyw]

I think alot of these moves the general public aren't a big fan of, so while it may have been good in theory to help children get through the tough times with a bit of confidence and help them grow into solid citizens....It's not something thats going to stick around, so no, i don't consider it a 'move' more like an experiment that was attacked by those that didn't understand it

It's a shame, for many reason, most of which i can't discuss because it will get this thread moved to the 'political' section, but one that may get by is the very nature of humans, if you look back through history, way back to the 'hunting and gathering' tribes and even the 'cavemen' you will see that we, as animals are 'pack' animals, while there is always some form of competition, in general we've always looking out for the 'pack' as a whole, our very nature goes against this current model of 'me, me, me' that has sprung up recently, not until recently has it been about stepping on others hands to move up the ladder....and thats the furthest i can go without getting political

What BS! In the "Pack" only the strongest survive. The strongest eat first and the weak get only leftovers if there are any. That is "me me me" in the most primitive form! That is nature, and it survives today!

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Unfortunately this is a whole new scary world that the kids these days have to face and let's face it corporate greed isn't taking care of you til you die anymore. I wish I hadn't bought into the "secure retirement" syndrome cause the reality is that midway thru the cycle I find myself having to reinvent myself with all the kids coming out of school. They just have an edge since they've seen what their parents are going thru.

So maybe the greed driving many of our corporations is forcing these kids to take a long hard look at their future and their loyalties. Why be loyal to anyone these days when it is not reciprocated? Had I asked myself that question 20 years ago I'd be going down a totally different path than I am today.

I'm glad that the kids these days are going into the workforce with their eyes wide open so they don't fall for the tricks that my generation fell for and now find ourselves stranded in mid life. If that means working smarter not harder and having a life, then I think they are smarter than we were.

As for the texting, it's growing on me.