Ramifications of chasing traditional rewards in, “How Not to Get into College”, “Somnambulist”, and “Iced- Cream” Albert Einstein once said, “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value”. Implying that people tend to get blinded in the hunt of personal triumph in their lives that they forget what really is important to them. Similarly, in Alfie Kohn’s How “Not to Get into College”, Daniel Barwick’s “The So Called Iced Cream” and Heron Jones’s “Somnambulist”, the authors develop the message that, people assume that chasing external rewards equals joy and satisfaction in their lives. However, their intentions ultimately lead to temporary happiness, long term problems mainly due to the fact that they expel the thought of intrinsic …show more content…
First of all, in Kohn’s essay, after the students gained admission into colleges their mindset of pursing traditional rewards only continued as now they were now worried about finding jobs instead of improving grades. For instance, Kohn writes that, students in university would “scan the catalogue for college courses that promised easy A’s… They’d define themselves as pre-med, pre-law, pre- business… nose stuck into the future, ever more frantic…until, perhaps, they might wake up one night in a tastefully appointed bedroom to discover their lives were mostly gone” (Paragraph,8). Even with the acceptance into universities, students still are not satisfied with their lives, justifies chasing accolades as a repeating cycle. Secondly, in Barwick’s essay, pursing only the tangible reward becomes Mr. Burns’s long term problem while discarding anything else that comes in his way. For example, during the bowling game “winning the worthless bowling trophy is more important to him than the sweet, albeit momentary, pleasure of a group of jocular friends [brings to a person] and in the end everything turns out to bore him” (Paragraph, 4). Even though Mr. Burns has friends by his side he views external rewards as substitutes for love and friendship, ultimately leading him to a regretful and unfulfilled life. Thirdly, in Heron Jones’s “Somnambulist”, the workers believe it’s alright to be chasing the promotions and bonuses, yet that same reason is the cause of their miseries. For instance, Jones himself declares that he “get[s] vexed when a fellow employee says he loves the Matrix/ Cause the Matrix don’t love you. They’ll gift wrap your pink slip in a pillowcase; downsizing is what they’ll state, / And deep inside you know your job’s not safe, but you love the Matrix. Through the metaphor, Jones implies that even though people are dissatisfied with their lives, they still try to convince
Staples critically describes that students deserve the grades because of high debt resulting in students “treating grades as a matter of life and death” (1066-1067). Students think that they are required to get high grades because it’s getting their “money’s worth,” but Staples examines they deserve a grade based on preparation of the student (1067). In most universities Staples critiques, “consumer appetite for less rigorous education” exemplifies students want less work for the same diploma. Brent Staples believes students make excuses to work less and make higher grades
Students desire to stay up to par with their peers, whether that be socially or in this case, on the academic level. When one individual falls behind, there’s pressure on him or her to pick himself/herself up. At the same time, parents often stress the importance of the student’s grades along with the implications of the student’s future, such as entering a good college or landing a high-paying job. Moreover, the student’s own pride and personal aspirations are put on the line. Therefore, because society applies pressure on the student to perform well in school to admit himself/herself into a prestigious college or acquire a luxurious job, students reevaluate themselves and realize the way to reach that kind of success is not through arguing well but through “a show of information or vast reading, by grade-grubbing, or other forms of one-upmanship.”
What doesn’t occur to us, though, is that schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work”(Graff 694). Graff is pulling into the emotions of people who did not do well academically or people who knew somebody like how he described in that quote. Throughout the essay, Graff pulls at the emotions of the audience and that is why his pathos is
In many societies, individuals forget the real definition of happiness. Many have the idea that being wealthy and having a high status is a necessity to experience a life that has pleasure, love and joy but in reality, this is an illusion. They neglect the fact that prioritizing wealth and a high social status often brings misery. In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, there is a negative impact on the characters as they allow themselves to become greedy and selfish due to dominance of wealth and stature which results in life changing
All our lives we are busy to gain things, whether it’s money, fame, or love. We don’t look at things we already have, and we are always lustful of things we don’t have. In my opinion we don’t value things we easily achieve and we show more concern towards the things which are hard to get and that is not the right way to precieve things. As the assignment asks, do we value what we struggle for?
Success is a reward for those who had devoted their lives towards advancing their skills to become triumphal and struggled hard to achieve their goals. People choose what expertise they want to cultivate depending on their ambition. Some expand their knowledge into becoming a leading scientist to evolutionize the world, developing their craft of arts and music to become a cultural icon and sharpening their tongue and mind into becoming a well known business man. But at what cost? How much can one person sacrifice to satisfy their appetite for success?
For example, society and our teachers have taught us that we need to be successful to be happy. This means that we will seek their happiness through this success and are constantly trying to be as successful as possible in order to make you happier. But since it is impossible to be truly happy on the basis of external factors, we the true happiness in fact almost never even feel it. Will experience some moments of apparent happiness when, for example, get a lot of money or achieve success at work or when this would have been, they would still unhappy because we connect our happiness with success. And mostly because the society in which we live based on such
Doing something just for the grades, and not seeing the bigger picture is walking in another man’s dream, as it might be implying that the worker is in a corporate industry working hard, tired, and treated as a slave. In The Simpsons, Mr. Burns is being driven by external sources of happiness like the items he owns. What this does to Mr. Burns is that it supersedes his definition of happiness which results in him being morally unsatisfied. In essence, an individual’s
Providing the example of Steve Jobs, the creator of Apple, she says the people who work under Jobs break their backs at factories, yet he never credits the workers’ efforts to his overall success. Tokumitsu points out that the DWYL mantra is narcissistic for those who are overpaid for less labor, while those tricked into believing they love their job are less valued for the overall
That kind of action makes them become their ideal selves, it is the effort to reach their expectation to get happy.
The author Andrew Curry thinks that workers today are unfulfilled because they would rather work a job they do not like and earn more money than work a job that they are passionate about and earn less. He also talks about how people seem to work more than relax in today's age like when he says “instead of working less, our hours have stayed steady or risen.” (Curry, Kirszner and Mandell 399) the evidence that he uses to connect his view is the amount of people who complain about their jobs. Nowadays everyone knows a person that constantly complains about his or her job but they still work that same job because of the financial gain. Many people today hate the job they work but that same job is the reason they have a car, house etc.
For instance, in Of Mice And Men George, one of the main characters, Steinbeck states, “I could get along so easily if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe even have a girl” (Steinbeck 16). In the cause of the great depression he is stuck helping Lennie and in a dead end job across the country in order to survive and get money. This Stops him from being able to have the life he wants with his own ranch and his own family and wife in the future. These two jobs inbetween working on the ranch and taking care of Lennie sucks up all his time stopping him from achieving his future dreams he desires to have.
In the “So Called Iced Cream” by Daniel Barwick and How Not to Get Into College: The Preoccupation with Preparation” by Alfie Kohn people believe extrinsic rewards will bring happiness and reduced stress into their lives, yet they ultimately end up filled with regret, and grief for everything they have sacrificed in the process of reaching their goal. Firstly, in “Enjoying the so called ‘Iced- Cream’” Monty Burns is depressed with his life despite having all the riches money can buy; similarly, in Kohn’s essay, students sacrifice their happiness and well-being in the process of gaining admission into top-tier universities. For instance, the narrator writes, “How could it be that Mr. Bums is unhappy? He has his own Xanadu, a nuclear power
To sustain the high status, people engaged in economics, politics, and many other fields, make an effort to shape people’s thoughts, influence the culture, and gradually transform the notion of success. Take Wall Street as an example. It is depicted as the extension of hyper elite universities, a place full of the smartness and most ambitious people. Enveloped in an atmosphere of “the culture of success”, where people are
People miss the fact that happiness comes from within. In an attempt to find joy – we must also be cautious about over excessive desire to acquire material objects and wealth. There is a delicate balance that must be reached between the pursuit of happiness, satisfaction, and contentment. While there are many conditions that fulfill ones emotional wellbeing, happiness and how we acquired it, depends upon the