WEEK 2 READING: THE ART OF POSSIBILITY
To be honest I am still unpacking this week's reading in my head, trying to assimilate it with my own philosophical view of life, the universe, and everything. (Which is not copyrighted because it is a title.) The underlying gist of the Art of Possibility, is that we are the creators of our own lives and as creators we need to make sure that we are constantly thinking outside the box of our own assumptions and that we are not "painting ourselves into a corner."
In this week's readingt the author's discuss three concepts, that will assist the reader in finding their own way out of the corner/box. They are: It's All Invented, Stepping Into a Universe of Possibility, and Everyone Gets an A. Of these three concepts I had the most difficulty with the last one, as I read it, because I believe in holding people accountable for their actions, and if you are giving people an A it seems like you are giving them carte blanche. However as I read the chapter I came to understand that giving someone an A does not mean you are giving them carte blanche, it means that no matter what difficulties you might have with them that you always do your best to work with them and understand their point of view.
In general I agree with a lot of what Benjamin Zander, and Rosamund Stone Zander discuss in The Art of Possibility. I am a firm believer in the benefits of meta-cognition, or thinking about thinking for those of you who don't dig five dollar words. I am specifically talking about thinking about the way that you think about things, which can be quite difficult. I would like to think that I am more often successful than not, but it is hard to rate ones own ability at being objective.
MY COMMENT:
Lauren Schneck responded:
Maya,
I agree with your stance on giving everyone an A. I think it leans a bit too much toward the "everyone is a winner" thing, where no matter how bad you are at a sport you get equal playing time and you get picked for the team. I think that disappointment is an important lesson to learn in life. The book was talking about these top students who needed to change their perceptions of themselves and not just see their ranking. Yes that mindset makes sense for that type of student, but let's be honest those students are not the norm. Most students need to be worthy of that A and are complaining that they are not, when they have done nothing to earn it. I think our culture has plenty of hand outs going around and free A's is not something we should add to the list without adding some other way to measure effort and intelligence.
I agree with your stance on giving everyone an A. I think it leans a bit too much toward the "everyone is a winner" thing, where no matter how bad you are at a sport you get equal playing time and you get picked for the team. I think that disappointment is an important lesson to learn in life. The book was talking about these top students who needed to change their perceptions of themselves and not just see their ranking. Yes that mindset makes sense for that type of student, but let's be honest those students are not the norm. Most students need to be worthy of that A and are complaining that they are not, when they have done nothing to earn it. I think our culture has plenty of hand outs going around and free A's is not something we should add to the list without adding some other way to measure effort and intelligence.
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