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Originally Posted by phrontist
The tallest blade of grass gets cut first.
Almost always being a truly driven, unique, outspoken individual is much more difficult then going with the flow. Is it worth it? It's hard to say, and a lot of people don't want to take the risk. Can you blame them?
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I'll start here... and I have heard that analogy before... but wow, the more I think about it, thats silly!! The tallest blade does not get cut first... the one under the mower does!! And all of the blades of grass are going to get cut to the same length at the same time (well barring the spinning direction of the blade). Enough philosophy.
But my answer to this question is it IS worth it. Do you think Dean or Bill Gates went with the flow?!?! How about Michael Jordan or Picabo Street?!?! How about your mentors? Did they go with the flow of the rest of the people in this world who dont have time to bother with high school students? HECK NO!
Being different is worth it. I agree that its hard in the school years to debate whether or not it is worth it to stand out, but believe in yourself and make your own decisions I PROMISE you[and anyone else who asks this question] it is worth it, it will get you MUCH MUCH farther in life. If any of these people actually had anyone they looked up to, you look up to someone because they are different, you dont look up to someone who does exactly the same thing as everyone else, they would understand being different is worth it.
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Originally Posted by sciguy125
There are leaders and there are followers. If there were only leaders or only followers, it would be anarchy. Everyone has their place in the world. People are born to be leaders or followers the same way that they are born to be an engineer or an artist. They will go where they are comfortable and where they will be most effective. Personally, I'm not a leader. I hate being in leadership positions. If I have to, I will get the job done, but I won't like it. I just hate telling people what to do.
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Well, I think people misunderstood Ashley a bit. To put it back in the context of the discussion we had, we werent talking so much about the actual leaders (the ones who step up and run the team)... What Ashley and I were talking about is that students are not willing to step up and take OWNERSHIP of a task on their own. For example, we had a set of students that really wanted to run a CAD seminar for the team. Yet when I asked them to pick a date and lay out their plans... nothing happened. They didnt take ownership. As far as I could tell, they wanted me to tell them when and where and what to teach. Then they would show up and do it.
I 100% agree that you need leaders and followers. However, you do not need mindless followers. And you do not need dictators. The best leader and the best follower are BOTH teamworkers. They both contribute ideas, they both can take action, they both can get things done.
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Originally Posted by sciguy125
The pessimist will blame themselves, the optimist will blame others. It's human nature. If there's something wrong with you, then you are flawed. Nobody likes to think that there's a problem with themselves.
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And I get what you are saying here, but I dont agree. I am an optimist... however, I blame myself a lot. I do whatever I can to either not assign blame to others, or just take action to correct it (whats the use of blame anyway??) its much more productive to just do something about it. And 99% of the pessimists I know, will say its the world's fault, or the teachers fault, or the government's fault. But I do agree that most people dont want to think the problem lies within. Its hard to accept.
Anyways, this is interesting to see others perspectives on this
Note that where I disagree, I dont intend to "argue", just present my view of the situation.