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Living with the Achievement Gap
Americanthinker.com ^ | July 27, 2021 | Noel S. Williams

Posted on 07/27/2021 4:52:46 AM PDT by Kaslin

If you’re average, congratulations! Most of us are mediocre in most of our endeavors, somewhere in the large dome region of the Bell Curve, a graph of a normal distribution of values for a given variable. We might be relieved by this essential equality since happiness and satisfaction are more elusive towards the narrower, right end of the Bell Curve where the exceptional loiter. At the left-end, government mollycoddles the underachievers, providing an ever-expanding safety net.

At various venues I’ve seen giant billboards touting “equality.” Indeed, when it comes to such unalienable rights as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then equality is self-evident. In fact, Americans make generous sacrifices in the pursuit of equity itself, which allocates resources to help underachievers bridge the gap -- often to the detriment of those with purported privilege.

Equally evident is that we are endowed with different levels of skill and talent. Therefore, it’s downright disgraceful to mock billionaires as “policy mistakes,” after all, entrepreneurship inherently leads to inequality.

Despite American Privilege, despite affirmative action, despite a multitude of DEI programs, despite massive assistance to help the needy, there remains an achievement gap. Unfortunately, pandering politicians pay no mind for fear of offending constituents’ sensibilities; when underperformance is addressed, it is usually in the context of inequality, rather than complacency. So many minorities succeed under meritocracy, without the necessity to be superhuman, that it undermines the progressive mantra of systemic racism.

Hopefully, those who accept personal responsibility will achieve equality in America’s middle class. Shunning the perverse perspective of 1619 Project Creator Nikole Hannah-Jones, who asserted that Cuba, of all places, has less inequality than the U.S., is a requisite mindset.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 07/27/2021 4:52:46 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Everyone deserves a trophy.
And if you feel that you aren’t getting enough trophies, then it’s racism.


2 posted on 07/27/2021 4:54:38 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: Kaslin
The really fun part will be in the near future, when all those jobs that used to be filled by the left side of the Bell Curve are all being filled by machines - or just Indonesians.

Used to be that if Johnny quit high school early and just wanted a job, GM was hiring assembly line workers or got a job in construction.

All gone. So, now what?

3 posted on 07/27/2021 5:01:18 AM PDT by Chainmail (Frater magnus te spectat)
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To: ClearCase_guy

or as the marxists say, equity


4 posted on 07/27/2021 5:01:24 AM PDT by joshua c (Dump the LEFT. Cable tv, Big tech, national name brands)
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To: Kaslin

Haven’t you heard? The Commencement speaker at SNHU says we live in a world where talent is distributed equally. What a douche.


5 posted on 07/27/2021 5:09:13 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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To: Chainmail

Democrats are intent on granting citizenship for 8 million illegal aliens. That is just the start. They are importing a socialist voting majority. Alot of Republicans are with them because their donor class wants cheap labor, which is subsidized by the welfare state. Remember that the rich don’t pay taxes, the middle class does.


6 posted on 07/27/2021 5:11:49 AM PDT by Sixgun Symphony (uie)
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To: Kaslin
According to this study, only 1 in 10 high achievers are authentically happy. They are often trapped in a cycle of never-ending demands wherein the satisfaction of an accomplishment is fleeting before anxiety about “what’s next?” sets in.

Is this what is meant by "pursuit" of happiness? Note, our Founders didn't write "life, liberty and happiness". Perhaps, if people embraced life and liberty a bit more, then happiness would come much easier.

7 posted on 07/27/2021 5:16:24 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA (“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” ― Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Brooklyn Attitude

“a world where talent is distributed equally”

Lots of folks have lots of different talents. The thing is, only some of those talents actually make money.

Ever watch a really good tree crew? The ground prep, climbers, cutters. Like a symphony.

A really good auto mechanic breeze through a job?

The Man of Steel take out a dent PDR?

An experienced seamstress cuff trousers?

An Seasoned Citizen whip through crocheting, while talking and drinking tea?

Talent is everywhere. It’s just sometimes very hard to overcome our Marxist public school system.

Even Plato knew this

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”


8 posted on 07/27/2021 6:15:04 AM PDT by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuitss)
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To: Kaslin

A 40 point difference in IQ between East Asians and West African is a huge hurdle to overcome.


9 posted on 07/27/2021 6:15:32 AM PDT by maddogtiger
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To: Kaslin

What am I supposed to say? Thank you rich people for feeding our economy to China, for funding CRT, for enabling cancel culture, for backing the wrong horse, for listening to flatterers and creating your own monsters that are turning us into a laughingstock, for frivolous lawsuits and privacy invasions most people don’t have a staff to defend themselves from, and loosing the whirlwind on us all?

With great power comes great responsibility, and listening to flattering con artists and grifters is not going to be conducive to sound policy.


10 posted on 07/27/2021 6:15:40 AM PDT by BlackAdderess (Satan was the first libertarian.)
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To: Brooklyn Attitude
The Commencement speaker at SNHU says we live in a world where talent is distributed equally.

That person is proof we live in a world where lack of intelligence is disproportionately distributed to commencement speakers, particularly in New England.

11 posted on 07/27/2021 6:20:41 AM PDT by Ahithophel (Communication is an art form susceptible to sudden technical failure)
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To: maddogtiger
A 40 point difference in IQ between East Asians and West African is a huge hurdle to overcome.

Not if you're a West African living in Palo Alto and undergoing IQ transitioning at the Dim Sum School of Medicine just off the El Camino Real.

12 posted on 07/27/2021 6:26:07 AM PDT by Ahithophel (Communication is an art form susceptible to sudden technical failure)
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To: Kaslin

In equality is the result of inequality....... bert


13 posted on 07/27/2021 6:30:12 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Like BLM, Joe Biden is a Domestic Enemy )
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To: Kaslin
Paradoxically, enjoying something without the demands of being great at it enhances productivity...

And I consider productivity the most important factor in determining the worth of moral, healthy human beings. IMO, scores on IQ tests and wealth are secondary to producing up to one's potential.

14 posted on 07/27/2021 6:32:29 AM PDT by PerConPat (A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground - Mencken)
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