The Value of the Individual
We're not born equal, but we're all important. This article will explore the individual’s importance in society through examples of successes and failures in varying fields.
In today's knowledge economy it has never been more important to value the individual. We are not born equal, but that doesn't mean that certain people can't be extremely successful while others fail entirely. Through exploring success and failure rates we can learn how an individual's effort goes a long way towards helping them get ahead in life; this is something that shouldn't be forgotten about when considering our priorities for education, healthcare, or any other system aiming at helping people achieve their full potential.
Successful people are not always famous people, they could be a doctor, lawyer, or scientist working with others on important projects. Even if they have never become famous for their work, it doesn't mean that their success isn't significant. The fact that people are willing to pay them money shows that it is highly valued by the majority of society. Doctors are not the only ones who earn enough money to buy a house and provide for their family. Lawyers sell important advice to companies and non-profit organizations; these jobs are just as valuable but less well known than doctors. They contribute to making the world a better place for all of us.
Some might say that someone must have a high IQ to be successful in the medical field, or another type of technical field. The truth is that some people just have an intense desire to learn about their passion and work hard at it to become good at it. There are many famous doctors who didn't do very well in school (e.g., Dr. Dre). It turns out that becoming a doctor is not very closely correlated with having an extremely high IQ, it's related more with a person's positive characteristics and behavior; if they are willing to work hard they can become very successful in their field despite any perceived deficiencies in their mental abilities.
A lot of people believe that they are not good enough to be successful because they don't have the necessary intelligence or skills. They need to be told that their hard work can make a difference, even if they are not born with a high IQ or natural talent. It is no consolation to feel as though you were born without the ability to do something extraordinary when you could actually do it if you tried hard enough. Our current educational system does a poor job of instilling this belief in individuals.
It doesn't matter whether someone is a genius or has average intelligence, they can still be extremely successful with enough hard work. Sometimes people will have to overcome challenges, but that is also true when trying to attain any goal in life. Most information is available online nowadays, so if someone has the interest and motivation to learn they can teach themselves effectively. Most schools only emphasize superficial information that isn't even useful for real-world situations much of the time; it is used primarily for college admissions and standardized tests.
Education should be about teaching the key skills and knowledge that are required to be successful in life, not just learning for the sake of it. It is a tragedy that many people have been convinced to believe that they cannot do something simply because they failed at it once or they don't have the highest IQ score. Someone with a very high or low IQ can still become successful if they try hard and use their time wisely; it becomes much harder to accomplish anything when you feel as though you lack all agency or you see your peers succeed while you have no hope of doing so.
If the educational system were more focused on teaching people how to learn and improving the lives of students through their efforts, we would have a much better chance at accomplishing things. We can't expect individuals to succeed at something if we don't tell them that they can do it. It has been shown that if a person is confident in their abilities they are much more likely to achieve great things; it is important for us to support these people and help them when they seem discouraged or unsure of themselves because we need them to succeed.
The many small contributions made by an individual's work will never make up for the massive failures in society. However, people can start making a difference as soon as they enter the workforce; it takes a while to become successful but eventually they will be able to make a difference in our communities. Even if there is no longer any incentive for individuals to produce valuable work due to the global economic crisis, decreasing poverty rates and increasing numbers of educated individuals will allow for the creation of new wealth.
Even if the majority of people are not born with high intelligence or talent (which is very rare) everyone still has the potential for greatness if they work hard enough. It is our responsibility as citizens of this world to make sure everyone has an opportunity to achieve success and influence other people's lives positively. Everyone can make a difference just by being nice to others and making us feel better about the world. Hard work and self-motivation is always important, but we have to remember that everything we do will have some effect on the future. Even if we don't achieve everything we want to do, it doesn't mean that we stop working towards our goals.
Conclusion
We have become a nation that values quantity over quality. It doesn't matter what we produce as long as we are producing something; it doesn't matter how many people we employ as long as they are employed. We don't care if our products are cheap, low-quality and harmful to the environment; we just want more of them because it makes the economy look good.
We don't pay attention to our government's decisions because there is always some other issue that is much more important than any problems we might actually have in the long run. People focus on entertainment instead of news because everything that happens in their lives will be the same regardless of what goes on around them.