Harrison Glicklich| A Cycle of Mediocrity

Good Luck | Big Wheel Keep on Turning

By Harrison Glicklich 10/23/16 10:10pm

As we all know, the presidential debates mark the tail end of the two-year-long campaign for president of the United States. With the cicada-esque lifespan of the campaign coming to an end, television networks across the country reap record ratings by broadcasting these debates. Some of you may still remember the debate from this past week, which drew 71 million viewers, and which represents the conclusion of the most-watched series of presidential debates in history.

But does “most-watched” mean “best?” Based on the leading nature of that question, I think many of you would disagree. What is good for network ratings is not necessarily good for the democratic process. In fact, networks and viewers are mostly interested in seeing the candidates make public gaffes, which can be used to drive ratings through the coming weeks. While it is interesting to consider which one is the puppet (I’ll keep you in suspense), it is clear that the “most-watched” metric is misleading in terms of quality.

The above analysis is far from novel in popular political discourse. However, I contend that a similar thing could be said about our own community. Our president is quick to establish the waxing excellence of her subjects. With monotonically increasing GPAs and SAT scores in each successive class, one might think this would be the case. Yet one has to do little more than take a look around campus to see the failure of this narrative.

The reality is that, more often than not, students fail to reach this supposed standard of excellence, by which I mean producing something of which one can be proud. Audit any given seminar and I am sure you will find a large number of students who have not done the assigned reading. In-class discussion is so stilted that some professors choose to eliminate the exchange entirely. Students throughout the room use their open laptops to message each other, surf the web and, in some egregious cases, play Minecraft. And when it comes to term papers, few professors receive work that has not been hastily completed the night before.

You might say, sure, some classes are more senseless than others. Maybe this behavior is sensible given that sector requirements sequester students into such seminars. Yet, if this was true, you would expect that excellence abounds among the student groups on campus. Students join these groups of their own volition, and have to prove their commitment to their seniors. So why is it that the standard of their striving is usually uninspiring?

For example, when I saw the Mask and Wig show I thought, “This is fine for student comedy.” Of course, a lot of work goes into producing the show and I think the group does a decent job overall, but I don’t think I can name a single professional performance that it surpasses. The same can be said for smaller endeavors that require little to no work behind the scenes. When I tune in to any given WQHS radio show, I don’t find myself thinking, “You did your best.”

So why is it that we find ourselves caught up in a so-called cycle of mediocrity? I would contend that it has to do with the demands of being a student at this University. It is transparent that there is no reward for excelling beyond what it takes to get an ‘A’ in any given course or senior position in any student group. In fact, the competent student optimizes the distribution of his or her effort. She knows not to exert herself when there will not be a corresponding impact in GPA. So why do the assigned readings or devote time to an extracurricular when you will not see a return on your investment? You would not be worse off if you spent that time playing Minecraft.

In short, it is clear that all-round excellence is hardly something the University should expect from its students considering the educational format that actively dissuades it. Furthermore, I think it is a case of false advertising when Amy Gutmann claims, “You are an exceptional class, and you do nothing by half measures,” as she did in a recent commencement speech. That being said, I believe we are all more or less competent by merit of being admitted to this University. If you want to escape the cycle of mediocrity, you might want to try a little harder.