I had lunch with a friend of mine this week, who is back from a year in the USA. In discussing our different experiences over the past year, she highlighted the ‘work hard, play hard’ culture that’s prominent in many American Colleges, including hers. The same students who could be found in the library every spare second of the day were dropping shots later that evening, day in, day out.
This conversation got me thinking about the idea of ‘success’, and the role it plays in our lives – not only as individuals, but as a wider society. When Dr. Inouye challenged us to learn just the first line of the Great Learning, she exposed us to a somewhat alien culture of learning: extreme rote learning and endless repetition. In Chinese, these students we were made to imitate epitomised the work hard mentality. But does this mean that they were successful? Despite an evolution away from those exact education programs in China, a mentality of working hard to achieve success is clearly still fundamental to their culture. But has it delivered for their society, or is Chinese success limited by macro factors, such as social and economic policy?
Returning to the American students, it’s clear that they work a lot harder than we do here in Auckland. But when we look at some of the world’s most successful people, rather often University, or even finish high school. Does that mean that they didn’t work hard? Well, no, but it does make me question the value of significant investment in education if we haven’t considered ‘success’ as more than a abstract goal. In New Zealand, traditional education and is often seen as a standalone prerequisite for success – complete University and whatever you do afterwards, you’ll be fine. But what we learnt from our experience with Dr. Inouye teaches us that we need to more critical of ideas around success. We had no idea what were doing at the start of that class, nor why it was important – I could say the same about my ideas of what success is and how to get there.
Personally, I think we’re better off abandoning ideas of success. On top of being difficult to define, the path there is almost impossible to lay out (despite what your parents may say). We’re better off focusing on the intrinsic value of our experiences, and the cumulative story that they become – this thing we call life. Success is a product of herd mentalities – expectations, advice and peer pressure. Perhaps I’m better off having chosen not to study in America.
