You can't get straight A's in life

What determines success in school?

Obedience and acquiescence.

What determines success in one’s career?

Strong decision-making ability.

Yeah, I know that schools talk about how important creativity and critical thinking are. And some school cultures are set up to deeply value these skills. However, for the most part, nobody wants students to, for instance, use their critical thinking skills in to question the value of the assignments they are given or put their creativity to work to find more efficient ways to get a given result. “I can see from your test that you understand this material, but you still need to turn in the homework so you don’t get zeros. The YouTube video you made was great, but you still need to do the worksheet.”

Meanwhile, this rigidity undermines employees who are hoping to earn perfect marks in their jobs. They seek the “right answer” and the “right way” instead of thinking for themselves. They have it completely backward. A strong employee is one who can generalize an idea from one situation to apply it in another, can work independently without needing reassurance, and who can make quick and effective decisions with the information at hand, thus demonstrating an understanding of the values of the organization, a tolerance for risk, and responsiveness to feedback.

I’m not saying that the student who who works just hard enough to pass is more likely to be successful in their career than the straight-A student who does everything that’s required without question. No, I’m simply pointing out that school success is not directly aligned with career success.

We know this — and yet we continue to admonish students who don’t do the work by invoking long-term failure as the inevitable consequence of their lack of effort.

What is the worst thing that could happen if we stopped doing this?

What are the potential positive outcomes?