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Rigorous

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In the business world, not to mention the scientific community, being thorough and precise is far more valuable than believing you are the salt of the earth. You must be oriented toward achieving results; not feeling good about what you do as a function of values, but feeling good about what you do as a function of excellence.

There is no question that a nurturing environment may be conducive to the kind of learning necessary promote the above qualities, but one has to recall that in most learning environments that are nurturing, the PRIMARY value is for the pupil to feel good about themselves, regardless of the actual level of achievement. This divorces one completely from the quantitative aspects of capitalism: mainly that effort is not rewarded based upon attitude, but primarily upon result. If I am a poor student at mathematics, maintaining a C average may well be an achievement that I should feel good about; I doubt very much it will be adequate to recommend me to an accounting firm.

Survival itself is primarily about the demands the nature and society place upon the individuals ability to adapt to their surroundings; in fact, many definitions of intelligence are based primarily on the concept of adaptation and flexibility. Not only that: our world is one of liquid relationships and economic opportunities in continual transformation; capitalism primarily destroys all the old ways of doing things; one literally adapts to new economic modes or dies off. Only when one is thoroughly acquainted with a subject through the rigors of a good education- which hopefully will reflect and inculcate the kind of seriousness of purpose that reflects what is required in the real world-can one have the mastery necessary to begin the process of creativity and improvisation required by the shifting dunes of the global community. Not equipping our young people with such tools will only result in self-congratulatory mediocrity that will be cruelly deflated by an increasingly competitive world.

Learn more about this author, Perry Hotter.
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