is it alright to reward mediocrity?

[SrFrog 927]

Paula Singleton:

Praising mediocrity creates laziness and puts out that inner fire that we all should have inside us that drives us to achieve great things. Why should someone want to achieve something great if they can be praised for being like everyone else? Hurting someone's feelings, regardless if it's the truth is something people are avoiding and it's doing nothing but turning our future leaders into needy crybabies.

 

Could she be right? Do you believe we should continue this trend of rewarding the minimum standards?

[Aureity 3,055]

No. It is really the worst. Possible. Thing.

Encouraging mediocrity snuffs out the wheel of innovation. If people can get by doing their work half-asleep, they're going to continue that trend-why work harder?

All the same, I'm pretty sure that the true innovators already have that inner motivation that drives them to excel. No artificial encourangement will help or hinder them-they already push themselves to the limit.

[willinilly 134]

that's all I could think...

[Typhoid Libby 1,265]

I can't believe this is an actually a question...

 

Hell no, we should shoot all those failing to meet minimum standards.

Bullets and cremations are cheap, car accidents are not.

[Whiteshade 1,426]

Depends on how you define mediocrity. Is it on a personal basis or a general basis? Ie if a not so bright person tries their hardest and becomes a tradesman, then on a personal basis, excellence is achieved, but societally its average, or even below average. On the flip side, if a genius feels lazy and just cruises to a 120k/yr speculator job on a personal basis it would be mediocre but societally it would be above average.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Whiteshade

[Titan Rising 2,156]

I agree, those participation ribbons are ridiculous

[Whiteshade 1,426]

I agree, those participation ribbons are ridiculous

 

Why must you mock me! It's not my fault the special ribbons cut off at 10 and I ranked 11th. I was in the Provincials goddamnit, THE PROVINCIALS!!!

 

Still if I actually bothered to read my material I would've got at least 8 places higher, oh well...

Edited May 15, 2012 by Whiteshade

[Aureity 3,055]

Why must you mock me! It's not my fault the special ribbons cut off at 10 and I ranked 11th. I was in the Provincials goddamnit, THE PROVINCIALS!!!

 

Still if I actually bothered to read my material I would've got at least 8 places higher, oh well...

 

It's okay Whiteshade, you're still #1 in our eyes!

*glomp*

[Ezio Auditore 702]

Well my answer is no but every year the Oscar's and Emmy's try to change my mind....

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

We should all respond to mediocrity like this.

[Shankveld 4,949]

Look through the art thread, look at all the praise on some of the less talented artist's creations.

But the better artist still receive more praise and 'brohoofs'.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging someone to improve and not tearing their dream apart,

the better will still get more attention and praise anyway. ~

 

I can't believe this is an actually a question...

 

Hell no, we should shoot all those failing to meet minimum standards.

Bullets and cremations are cheap, car accidents are not.

 

Then I would never be rewarded </3

[Starshine 16,333]

Why the hell someone should be praised if he never achieved something that actually worth his life, when all he did was stood at the corner and be exist?

 

Nah. Maybe the 'mediocre citizen award' should be phrased like "Congratulations! You managed to breathe twenty thousand times without crying!"

 

Look through the art thread, look at all the praise on some of the less talented artist's creations.

But the better artist still receive more praise and 'brohoofs'.

 

Actually, those budding new artists are hardly mediocre at all. They had shown the will to learn more and to achieve more. The mediocre citizens should be like me. Talking and talking all day long

[Joat 15]

In a way, it depends on the root of the mediocrity. Scorn should only be given when the mediocrity is due to a lack of effort. However, if someone honestly gives it their all and simply fails, then at the very least, they should not be punished for it. There are no doubt exceptions to that, of course, as there is with every general rule, but it is nonetheless worth keeping that yardstick on hand/hoof, because a mediocre product is not entirely mediocre if there is excellent effort behind it.

 

Of course, this is not to say that things should be judged on effort alone. After all, that could create resentment and create people more talented at pretending to work hard, rather than making people genuinely want to improve. While the scorn should be reserved for those who do not try and a small amount of praise given to those who honestly try and simply fail, there should be some sort of reward for genuinely doing well, to incentivise progress in the chosen craft.

 

So, praise and other types of reward should be given on a sliding scale, a small amount of it perhaps given as an appetizer to those willing to try, in order to encourage them to excel.

[Aureity 3,055]

Look through the art thread, look at all the praise on some of the less talented artist's creations.

But the better artist still receive more praise and 'brohoofs'.

 

Oh, really?

http://mlpforums.com/topic/16374-i-made-a-sludge-pony/

[Jimmy Bronymian 140]

For children, mediocrity should be acceptable. It can impact a child's life in an atrociously negative way if they are not rewarded for being at least semi like others. The question I believe is most important when regarding this subject though is, what age should we stop in the act of mediocrity? This is just my personal opinion, as I found being praised for being similar to everyone as a child helped me to strive to become better later in life. (If that makes any sense at all...)

 

Praise should have its limits though, and everyone needs to reach that age where praise is biased on non-mediocrity.

[Crystal Sparkle 344]

Maybe like a " Better luck next time" kind of thing. But as in giving rewards? Again, not so sure. While I don't think we should totally hurt their pride, but if you praise them for not doing anything we'll just setting them up for failure.

[Discordian 6,015]

It all comes down to the perspective and source of the mediocrity. For many, becoming a CEO of some company isn't even a thought. We don't care if we create the next big thing, we simply want to satisfy our own goals in life. If someone works fast food their whole entire life but is satisfied with it then why should anyone be able to tell them they aren't good enough? In the end the satisfaction of life's accomplishments are judged by an individual rather than society or a larger group at the very least.

 

If someone is intentionally doing something for someone else, however, and they end up with mediocre results that the other person does not like then I suppose it's shame on them for not trying hard enough. I'm speaking in terms of video games: Many video game developers seem to work their utmost to make a game of greatness but in the end the gaming community has become so corrupt that it only wants the best of the best and anything less than that is usually treated like crap. Anything below an 8 isn't worth playing for most gamers but the fact that we HAVE a 10 point scale means that one should not dwell solely on the top points.

 

Now keep in mind: I never said that it wasn't okay to think a game could improve but if something comes out, whether it be a game, movie, art piece or invention, everyone should get an A for effort if they put that effort into it. They did something while most are content with reaping the benefits of what was given out while they had to do the work to get it out there. People should be praised for their work while also being critiqued on their work. You don't want to stop someone from ever doing something like that again but you want them to improve upon said work.

 

It's ridiculous to think that "if it's not good enough for my standards it shouldn't exist at all" since standards of any kind vary between person to person and no one can satisfy everyone no matter how hard they try. Would it not be better to try to satisfy a specific group of people such as playing up on a character or aspect that certain people are a fan of rather than trying to please everyone by keeping it tame? (Which will in the end not please those that wanted to see more of said character anyway)

 

The world has become one of "I should be able to have the best and anything less isn't worth my time" type thinking and it gets on my nerves that, even if a game for example, does not meet said standards but is only slightly less enjoyable people will still turn away from it and not recommend it for anyone. The way the human mind works is far too complex to just leave it at "This is good, this is bad" since there's always something to appreciate in everything no matter how "bad" it is.

 

I'm not pointing fingers to anyone here or anywhere else but I have seen it before where someone has seriously believed that it has to satisfy a standard or it's worthless no matter how good the other aspects of it are. "The song's okay but it's ruined by the drum beat" "The game is okay but the control scheme is stupid" Thoughts such as these are infuriating when someone can't look at what's around them rather than focusing on what they don't like.

 

I have probably gotten quite off topic in this post but the point is that mediocrity is a point of perception and even though mediocrity isn't the best it is still also not the worst but people treat it like it is anyway and thus go back to "if it's not the best it's not really worth it" thus creating the illusion that mediocrity is worse than it is. Mediocrity is nothing more than the average, the thing that the best can't do but it's not as bad as the worst. It has aspects of both sides but can't properly mix them thus it does not strike a chord with anyone as bad or good, thus it is average. Being average doesn't hurt anyone, obviously there are exceptions, I'm not saying it's an absolute, nothing in life ever is, but the fact that being average is NOT the worst and is NOT the best it should never be treated like either side.

 

Thus back to my original point: Mediocrity should not be rewarded as it is the best but neither should it be devoid of praise, and possibly punished even, as if it were the absolute worst possible outcome.

 

"It's good but do it better next time. <insert details here>"

[Shankveld 4,949]

Oh, really?

http://mlpforums.com...-a-sludge-pony/

 

Yah really.

http://mlpforums.com/topic/9269-twilight-sparkle/

[Kazuki Fuse 534]

If I was given nothing for mediocrity, I'd be sleeping in a dumpster right now. My ambition is handicapped by laziness.

[NavelColt 22,880]

Two words: Constructive Criticism. Don't be a hard-ass who does nothing but tell someone to improve cause they're sucking, but don't sit there and praise them for not doing much of anything either. Like it or not this world is full of people who find drive and passion through others' noticing their work, and getting encouragement, some because they're fragile, some because they have an ego, others just because they want feedback. A little encouragement along with criticism is superior to either one by itself. That balance doesn't need to be fifty-fifty, but the point is it can't be 100% criticism.

 

Yes, praising someone with something that isn't that good means they'll get nowhere. But the same can be said for nothing but pure criticism, because no one is going to want to improve if you just tell them they suck, even if it's all sugar-coated with a bow on top :3

Edited May 15, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[Mr. Wobbels 664]

Yes, of course. You can't improve if you're perfect, but the mediocre can improve as much as is possible. In other words, we should praise the mediocre as much as the perfect if they are willing to put in the time and effort to improve.

 

Also, basically what Shank said.

[Raptor_a22 83]

I reward mediocrity with contstrictive criticism.

 

Mind you, I reward everything with constructive criticism. I don't believe anything anyone creates is 10/10. Nothing is perfect, though we should always strive to get there and in ding so create great things.

[NavelColt 22,880]

What Raptor said. Nothing is perfect. Everything in the universe is a work-in-progress.

[StarStep 42]

I have been wondering about this myself and I think there are distinctions to be made.

 

I would not really praise someone if they were being paid to do a job where they are expected to have the expertise to do a decent job of it and it turned out mediocre. Now someone who was known to not have any real knowledge or skill in whatever they were doing going and putting forth the effort to create something that turned out to be mediocre would get a little bit of praise for it.

 

Next I think most constructive criticism has praise embedded in it. I know I have critiqued some people before and even though I may not like there piece overall I would get back replies of glad you liked it. So how much praise should be put into constructive criticism? I agree that if you just put out negatives, that it will kill the drive of some. Yet just praise does lead to apathy and feelings that improvement is not needed. How do you balance the two out? I have my method but would like to hear what your techniques on that matter are.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

Hell no! You reward those who put forth the effort and succeed! The team that wins gets the trophy, that doesn't hurt the other teams opportunity for next time.