Mediocrity; The Monster is on the Ropes

Some time back a similar study was conduct in both a private bible college and a public middle school. Students were randomly divided into two groups and given to teachers. The teachers were told one group was made up of some of the schools brightest students, while the other teacher was told his/her students were slower to average students. From the beginning the teachers “expectations” were tainted by the stereotype placed on each of the classes. The students in the quote unquote bright class were pushed and motivated to find the answers, while the students in the slower to average class were catered. When a student didn’t know the answer, the teachers simply moved to the next student. In the bright class, if a student was having trouble learning it was chalked up to a bad day, while in the slower class it was merely understood that they were slower.

If you have been following our posts in the last two weeks, discussion has ensued on the epidemic of teen mediocrity. This is an epidemic that categorizes adolescences as age and behavior, as oppose to a time of developmental importance. Expectation has its consequences. Truth be told, the classes above were made up of the same level students; however, the ones handed to the teacher with the bright label excelled, while the slower class fell behind. Young people are on a consist search for something to aim for. As parents if we give them goals based on societies expectations of their demographics, than we will get mediocre results. On the other hand, provide a young person with the potential for greatness and they will hit it every time.

In our post “Mediocrity, Toothless Roaring Monster” we introduced three characters in their teen years, George, David and Clara. Three individuals entrusted with, by today’s standards, adult responsibilities and tasks. After three years of surveying Virginia, now twenty, George was appointed by the governor as a major in a militia. Later he would trek over a hundreds of miles in a midwinter expedition to warn that the French were entering Ohio Territory. George Washington would later become our nation’s first president. David, also known as David Farragut, became the U.S. Navy’s very first admiral. With the same courage he commanded the prisoner’s ship as a twelve year old; he persevered in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War. Clara known to us today as Clara Barton, is best known as the founder of the American Red Cross. Her desire to serve humanity arose at the early age of eleven. Her zeal and determination would later prove critical as she tended to thousands of wounded Civil War soldiers. There is a reason we still know these names today. They have etched themselves into the pages of America history because they invested their teen years into becoming history makers.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me” (1 Corinthians 13:11). In this verse there is no, “I was a child, then a teenager, then a young adult, then a man. This scripture places an “expectation” to move from the childish things into your responsibility. Mind you, God does not leave this task solely to your adolescent. As parents, God has given us the great privilege of nurturing, disciplining and instilling character into our children. As stewards of His creation, we are to raise a culture of will educated adults embodying humble confidence, faith and compassion, love and discipline. Young people who are productive citizens and active in His kingdom. We must understand that God does not hold two separate standards of expectations for teenagers and adults.1 Timothy 4:12 states; Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Where it may be common to expect mediocrity, God expects great and as parents we should too.