Carol:
Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda: A Star Procrastinator
I belong to a great book club called the Distinguished Literary Ladies (DLL). Our members have a sense of humor, varied backgrounds and reading interests, and imminent patience with any DLL who doesn’t get the reading done. There are stars within the Distinguished Literary Ladies, those who always finish the book, take notes, mark significant passages, research the author, and share unique perspectives on the readings. I am NOT a star in the Distinguished Literary Ladies book club.
Our October selection was Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. The Story of Success. Being a procrastinator, I often scramble at the last minute to find a copy of the book. When I was working, I would end up buying a copy at Costco –which gets expensive. Now that I am retired I try to use the library more. Shoulda looked for Outliers sooner. All copies were out, so I had to put my name on the waitlist.
The Prescott Public Library has a great system for reserving books, notifying patrons electronically when a book is ready for pick-up. I began to wonder why I hadn’t heard from the library when I realized I hadn’t updated my e-mail address (ie. procrastinated); so, when I finally checked my online library account, the book had been ready for pick-up for a week. By the time I actually got to the library, I had ten days to read Outliers.
I am a fast reader, so ten days to get through any book should be manageable. I breezed through the first 100 pages. The chapter that really caught my interest was about the “10,000 hour rule,” the idea that successful people work harder. Sounds like a “duh” idea, but Gladwell’s examples carry this notion to a new level. One researcher interviewed violinists at a music school who had been ability-grouped, Top tier students worked the hardest. As young children, they had begun to distinguish themselves not so much by raw talent but by commitment to practice, racking up over the years about 10,000 more hours than students in the lower tiers. I was loving this book.
Shoulda kept reading until I finished, but I got sidetracked by our trip to Las Vegas. Sin City isn’t conducive to non-fiction reading, so I loaned the book to another DLL, leaving two days when I got home to finish it….easy going. I loaded my suitcase with trashy crime novels. Finished three books in three days.
When I got home, I got sick, missed the book club evening, and asked my DLL friend to return the book to the library. As much as I liked Outliers, Gladwell will probably join my growing list of “started but never finished” books. Apologies to the Distinguished Literary Ladies: my lifelong struggle (but not too hard) with procrastination will keep me ever out of the top ranks of the DLL . Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
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| Unfinished Finished |
Source: Gladwell, Malcolm Outliers. The Story of Success. Little, Brown 2008.
Megan:
So, even though I had my own idea of what mediocrity means, I looked it up. “The quality or state of being mediocre.” God I hate it when they use the word in the definition.
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| www.despair.com |
Mediocre then: “of moderate or low quality, value, ability or performance: ORDINARY”
(By the way, the online dictionary offers a rhyming section, which I found sort of hilarious.
Mediocre:Honest broker
Red-hot poker
Power broker
Yellow ocher
It's like a really bad poem.)
Why does Ordinary mean mediocre? (Clicking on the link. So much quicker than flipping the pages of an actual dictionary, but not quite as satisfying). Apparently, Ordinary can mean both “routine, usual” AND “poor, inferior” and it is the second meaning to which mediocre is ascribed. But what does it say about our culture that our language has evolved a negative connotation to any state that falls below ‘extraordinary’ as though the ‘exceptional’ should become the rule and not, well … the exception?
This seems wrong to me. And sad. But I can’t tell if I’m more sorry for the imprecise language or because I fear a penalty for not having much ambition. I have no “ardent desire for rank, fame or power,” (more like a passing desire), and do not seek to be among the ranks of the extraordinary. I prefer to spend my time seeing the funny side of a terrible situation.
This seems wrong to me. And sad. But I can’t tell if I’m more sorry for the imprecise language or because I fear a penalty for not having much ambition. I have no “ardent desire for rank, fame or power,” (more like a passing desire), and do not seek to be among the ranks of the extraordinary. I prefer to spend my time seeing the funny side of a terrible situation.
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| www.despair.com |
However, I will admit, that regarding today’s essay, I should have at least aimed for the mediocre, instead of this craptastic waste of space. (Unless we can make craptastic into another word for mediocre.)
I just got my copy of John Taylor Gatto's the The Underground History of American Education, and I strongly recommend that you both read it or any of his other works (that one is kind of long), especially Carol(Mom) with her lifelong career in education just coming to a close. Gatto, a schoolteacher of 30 years argues that "genius is as common as dirt" and the idea that the masses of people are inherently ordinary or mediocre is a myth - a myth that has been institutionalized through grading and the bell curve and other classifications.
ReplyDeleteWhile inherent mediocrity may be a myth, the damage done in forced institutionalized schooling does lead to a sort of mediocrity in the majority of cases, which Gatto very persuasively argues is an intrinsic part of the design and purpose.
Maybe the rest of the DLL might like to try out one of his books as well.
Megan, your post raises interesting questions and I do not consider it craptastic at all.
Thanks for joining in the conversation on mediocrity, Marshall. I will look the book up. If you haven't read Gladwell's book, you might find it interesting too. First chapter shows how hockey player birthdays play a large part in their increasing success. Boys born closest to the cut-off date and season for a sport like hockey are bigger and more coordinated than boys who are months younger. So, they get streamed into more competitive venues with better coaches, have more practice and play time. After years of this, they are in the top ranks.
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