What's So Bad About Being So-So Analysis
Lisa Wilson Strick’s article “What’s So Bad about Being So-So?” states that, in today’s society, people are too serious to the point that no one does things just for fun, but only for competition. There are children who are acting like grown adults instead of children because they are so stressed out about being the best in everything that they do. Friendships are being ruined because no one is safe from today’s competitive edge. Strick’s article tries to instill the thought that we need to go back to the era when people did things just for fun, not because they wanted to be the best, but just for the experience. “But in today’s competitive world we have to be ‘experts’- even in our hobbies,” (para.4). Competitive thinking is ruining fun
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for everyone, especially for the younger generations. When Strick was a young girl, her friends and she would play sports at the corner lot without prejudice and competition.
They wanted to play the game for fun and camaraderie, not to “slaughter the other team,” (para.7). Nowadays, every kid has been taught that you must be the best and it has made them into little machines. When I was a young child, my father always told me that knowledge is power and that I needed to always strive for greatness. This turned me into a competitive thinker, always looking for ways to be the greatest at everything I pursued. But it also made me socially awkward because I did not know how to make friends. I just wanted to be the best, friends or not. Strick’s son was picked on by other children for not being excellent at soccer. Strick states, “I overheard a ten-year old boy sneer the other day, ‘He doesn’t know a goal kick from a head shot,” (para.7). This bullying should not be part of everyday life, but sadly this is not the case. Bullying is becoming more prevalent in the younger generation than ever before and this is because we are teaching our children to judge based on the skill of a person rather than their personality and character. Competition seems to invade even the most simplest of tasks in today’s
society.
Strick’s friend made their mutual hobby a competition by flaunting her skills when Strick brought up how she took up knitting. “And all [she] wanted was something to keep [her] hands busy while [she] watched television,” (para.6). Even between friends, who are supposed to share the fun and joy in life, competition of everyday tasks is a nuisance. The problem is that “doing things bad has gone out of style,” (para.4). Kids do not have fun anymore because they cannot just go out and play, they must have a competition or play a competitive game to have any semblance of fun. A nine-year old girl was so stressed out because she was worried about getting into a prestigious gymnastics school, her flute lessons, and school even though flute and gymnastics are not her passions, they are just hobbies. Even in hobbies, which are supposed to be something that makes you happy and relaxed, you are more likely to face harsher competition than in a job. What we struggle with is separating work and competition from the everyday things we enjoy.
Finding a middle ground between work and relaxation should be our society’s overall goal for being happier. We need to find our limits and adjust them to our everyday routine. Work should stay at work because the rest of your time should be for unwinding with things you love or enjoy. But the competition ruling our society makes that impossible. Every waking moment is dedicated to furthering ourselves to the point of exhaustion. “Ambition, drive and the desire to excel are all admirable within limits, but [society does not] know where limits are anymore,” (para.9). Strick makes a good point when she states, “The point is to enjoy being a beginner again; to rediscover the joy of creative fooling around,” (para.11). Being a beginner does not mean we are failures, which seems like the notion most of society seems to hold nowadays.
Competition is good when it is applied to the right tasks, but it is unnecessary in the everyday life of the young generations and in the things we do to enjoy life. The underlying tension our society has to be the best is unhealthy. We as a society should help restore a balance between fun and work because the “work hard, play harder” mantra is driving us mad.
Works Cited
Strick, Lisa Wilson. "What 's So Bad about Being So-So?." Trans. Array Steps to Writing Well with Additional Readings. . Ninth Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2014. 203-205. Print. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katie-hurley/5-reasons-the-common-core-is-ruining-childhood-_b_4153698.html Vocabulary Words
Mantra- an often repeated word, formula, or phrase, often a truism.
Instill- to infuse slowly or gradually into the mind or feelings; insinuate; inject.
for everyone, especially for the younger generations. When Strick was a young girl, her friends and she would play sports at the corner lot without prejudice and competition.
They wanted to play the game for fun and camaraderie, not to “slaughter the other team,” (para.7). Nowadays, every kid has been taught that you must be the best and it has made them into little machines. When I was a young child, my father always told me that knowledge is power and that I needed to always strive for greatness. This turned me into a competitive thinker, always looking for ways to be the greatest at everything I pursued. But it also made me socially awkward because I did not know how to make friends. I just wanted to be the best, friends or not. Strick’s son was picked on by other children for not being excellent at soccer. Strick states, “I overheard a ten-year old boy sneer the other day, ‘He doesn’t know a goal kick from a head shot,” (para.7). This bullying should not be part of everyday life, but sadly this is not the case. Bullying is becoming more prevalent in the younger generation than ever before and this is because we are teaching our children to judge based on the skill of a person rather than their personality and character. Competition seems to invade even the most simplest of tasks in today’s
society.
Strick’s friend made their mutual hobby a competition by flaunting her skills when Strick brought up how she took up knitting. “And all [she] wanted was something to keep [her] hands busy while [she] watched television,” (para.6). Even between friends, who are supposed to share the fun and joy in life, competition of everyday tasks is a nuisance. The problem is that “doing things bad has gone out of style,” (para.4). Kids do not have fun anymore because they cannot just go out and play, they must have a competition or play a competitive game to have any semblance of fun. A nine-year old girl was so stressed out because she was worried about getting into a prestigious gymnastics school, her flute lessons, and school even though flute and gymnastics are not her passions, they are just hobbies. Even in hobbies, which are supposed to be something that makes you happy and relaxed, you are more likely to face harsher competition than in a job. What we struggle with is separating work and competition from the everyday things we enjoy.
Finding a middle ground between work and relaxation should be our society’s overall goal for being happier. We need to find our limits and adjust them to our everyday routine. Work should stay at work because the rest of your time should be for unwinding with things you love or enjoy. But the competition ruling our society makes that impossible. Every waking moment is dedicated to furthering ourselves to the point of exhaustion. “Ambition, drive and the desire to excel are all admirable within limits, but [society does not] know where limits are anymore,” (para.9). Strick makes a good point when she states, “The point is to enjoy being a beginner again; to rediscover the joy of creative fooling around,” (para.11). Being a beginner does not mean we are failures, which seems like the notion most of society seems to hold nowadays.
Competition is good when it is applied to the right tasks, but it is unnecessary in the everyday life of the young generations and in the things we do to enjoy life. The underlying tension our society has to be the best is unhealthy. We as a society should help restore a balance between fun and work because the “work hard, play harder” mantra is driving us mad.
Works Cited
Strick, Lisa Wilson. "What 's So Bad about Being So-So?." Trans. Array Steps to Writing Well with Additional Readings. . Ninth Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2014. 203-205. Print. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katie-hurley/5-reasons-the-common-core-is-ruining-childhood-_b_4153698.html Vocabulary Words
Mantra- an often repeated word, formula, or phrase, often a truism.
Instill- to infuse slowly or gradually into the mind or feelings; insinuate; inject.