Help for Underachievers

You really can't do jack.

Many of these so-called underachievers see that the first time they jump through the hoop, they'lll be doing it for life, and the firms they work for will be seeing how little they can pay to keep them jumping through the hoop.

They also see that along with their workload, they'll be shouldering the workload of some other wanker that the firm won't or can't fire.

Once those realities sink in, the desire to achieve anything is all but extinguished.

Why excel when you know the credit will be diffused to people that don't deserve it, and your paycheck doesn't show the company's appreciation for your efforts?

Allen

Servitude and humility will advance your career much faster and further then credit. If you have done the work, you will advance.

" Give and you shall receive "

The reason why these kids are underachievers is because they don't have a dream. They don't have a dream because their parents don't have a dream either.

Establish dreaming and turning those dreams into goals then you will get somewhere with them.

How do you do that?

For starters you can see of you can get the school to get some motivational speakers to talk to the entire school at an assembly. You might be able to get a well known will do it for the sake of the kids education.

I've been to seminars with a U.S. Senator speaking, Sugar Ray Leonard, a man that climbed the top of Mt. Everest., a couple Olympic Gold Medalists.

They all had one thing in common, all their accomplishments started with a dream.

The idea is to influence them to think differently to change their mind set.

When you say things along the lines that they aren't cut out for that type of program, you are doing nothing more then being one of their worst enemies, much like their parents.

You have to get the message across that if they want something they have to work for it and their is nothing that can stand in their way but themselves.

I have a saying "The parents are responsible for the child but you are responsible for the adult."

That means that the saying "Well that's just how I was raised" is a cop out.

The only way to turn those kids around is to give them examples of people like them that have turned themselves around.

Another saying "If you want to find gold, you talk to someone that has found gold. You don't talk to someone that has found copper."

Dream...?
Of course they have a dream!
The problem is the dream is..
'I want to be a celebrity'

We are plagued with talentless, overpaid 'celebrities' who contribute little to anything other than encouraging a 'something for nothing' attitude.
It's about time wages reflected actual worth...we've just had a mini budget here and I heard some guy whingeing about proposed increases in high earners taxation....It's our money he whinged...we've earned it.
No...some of these high earners are the very ones who caused our problems in the first place or at best display some dubious talent masquerading as entertainment.
Isn't real worth better demonstrated by a nurse, baker, or artisan...rather than some bloke who can kick a soccer ball or dunk a basket ball.
Where do we get our relative values from?

I'm not espousing comunism...just some sort of realism in remuneration.

<exit Rant mode>

Del

Allen, I think the fear that someone will be, "jumping through the hoop" for life while others get the credit , is pretty cynical.

The problem is that we will have a dwindling number of young workers entering every workplace. It may be a safer ecomomical bet to invest in the academically gifted but that won't be an option as offered in another post.

Everyone can do their part whether you are training one on one as a peer or are responsible for a large group. If you are training some one and there's a period of time that you have nothing for them to do, give them something to read. If they have trouble reading (you can see their eyes don't move like someone reading or they start yawning) have something else in mind. Having someone take a meaningful approach to training is all that's needed. There have to be systems in place, we don't have to be psychology experts, just have/develop the tools to deal with the issues at hand.

New trainees have to be sure that there is a system they can buy into. Giving up your individualism is something "Gen Y" avoids. You the , Manager, project leader, lead hand, etc. has to demonstrate confidence in a bigger system. Of course, once the training and support are avaiable and someone doesn't want to work, you can call it what you want but they just don't want to be there. That's a different topic.

I have always been bothered by the resources expended on Special Education for the *-challenged (add your own term for the asterisk). While attempting to help those who face special challenges is an honorable and noble aspiration, would not society as a whole benefit most by providing additional resources to those of the most promise for future achievement? The high achievers tend to add more per dollar invested than the *-challenged. In times of limited resources, one should invest where there is the best hope of return. I do not limit the concept of investment to the strictly financial- one should also cheer on teachers, Boy Scout leaders, and all who contribute to the general advancement of society with their labors and time, as well as the (less critical) financial investment...

Excellent post. I recognized myself in your writing, though I never thought of the label "kinetic learner". Cool.

Hooker <-- product of apprentice school and hands-on military training but barely passable at academics

Hello micahd02,

Sounds like we went to the same school, ask by Mensa to join but their social skills were worse than mine.

My sister is a Teacher and we disagree about education completely.

The mistakes I made in school were mine. The time that they wasted of mine was their mistake.

Brad

Del, I was long-winded, but you said it so much better. For that, from me, you get a GA.

Mike

The problem is that we tend to see the skilled workers as under achievers IMO. We need the skilled workers to build all the things the the academic boys dream up. Some people are hands on and some are more dreamers and or designers. It is silly to consider one discipline or the other are the under achievers by the nature of their work . I consider myself to be a little of both and take great pride in being able to take things from a dream state to a finished product. It is foolish to think that skilled journeymen are not as much of achievers as say engineers or designers. Some of the skilled workers I have worked with in the past are the best problem solvers. I have seen under achievers in most all of the many different disciplines of work whether it be the conceptual, managing or the building phase of a project. It seems to me that we are getting away form training these skilled type people in America more and more in the last few years. In my skilled area work alone (welding and metal work) I have seen less new people getting into the trades. The average age of a welder in America is somewhere around 54 according to AWS. The younger people just don't want to do the work that consists of getting dirty and lower pay anymore. It is a shame too IMO cause.

Pipe: I'm with you. I'm reminded of the time I told my guidance counselor in High School, in 1969 or 70, that I wanted to sign up for a "Vo-Tech" class in automobile repair. I was already doing all my own repairs, but didn't know anything beyond what I could learn myself, and thought it would really help me out to have some formal training, IN AN AUTO SHOP (not pure theoretical), and after all, I was already taking a course in hands-on electronics (theory, but turned into reality, by bread-boarding real circuits, in the lab). The GCs answer was that "those classes are for the dumb kids, and the trouble makers, and you're going to college. You're too smart for those classes". I didn't get the chance to go to college (no funds, grades too low for scholarships) till after I had joined the Navy, done 9 years, got out as an E-6 veteran of Viet Nam, and went on the GI bill. I'm 54 years old, and still trying to find someone to teach me to weld. Not that I NEED to do that, anymore, but I just want to know how. And I still work on my own cars, even though I have a job writing documentation and policy for computer use in the US Government. I, too, think the answer is an Apprenticeship type training program. It seems to me there are a lot of kids out there who would like it, if they could only try it. Of course, some are still going to opt for the books, but all of today's kids need an equal shot at either course of study, without stigmatizing them for either choice. Mike