Systems and Rebels
In a study published in the APS, the preferences of 13-year-olds predicted their educational outcomes at age 23, and their level of eminence 35 years later. Stop for a second and think about what that implies. Basically, who you are at 13 can be used to figure out who you will be at 23 and who you will be at 50. It draws a clear line between who you are when you’re just figuring out acne and who you are when you’re just figuring out your retirement plans.
Which is an absolutely horrifying concept.
I reached out to an author of the study, certain that there was something in the methods used that would show a glaring error or statistical massaging of the data. One of the authors, David Lubinski, was kind enough to give me a copy of both the relevant studies. I went through them with a fine-toothed comb and finally came to a conclusion.
They were right. 100% correct.
Within the defined context.
What context? Well, the study defined eminence as “those who…had accomplished something rare: creative and highly impactful careers” Their criteria included “full professors at research-intensive universities, Fortune 500 executives, distinguished judges and lawyers, leaders in biomedicine, award-winning journalists and writers.”
Let’s take a step back from that context and put it in perspective.
If you are a 13 year old who excels at a standardized test, you are really good at working within a system. Specifically, a system that has trained you in taking standardized tests after participating in a standardized class. If you are that good within the system at that age, it makes sense that you would be better as you get older.
A System will reward you for following its rules and regulations. And, if you are bad at working within the System, you will not receive those rewards.
One key feature of the academic System is that average students do not receive any special attention. If a 13 year old math whiz happened to be terrible at writing, there’s a good chance their weakness would be given additional support. In fact, it’s very likely that, through that support, their writing might be good enough to be average. A math whiz with average writing skills is going to be given a lot more rewards in the System than a 13 year old who is average across the board.
The average are not punished in a System. They are also not rewarded. They just sort of fade into the center of the bell curve.
Sadly, we measure ourselves by the rewards we receive. We learn this as children. “Do X and you’ll get Y” Over time, this measurement takes on different forms. We may no longer want the shiny sticker, but we do want a kind word of encouragement or a medal for finishing a race. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this impulse.
What is wrong is allowing it to make you feel like a failure. If the System you are in has not rewarded you, it is not a judgement. It has no bearing on who you are and what you can do.
Which brings us to the concept of rebellion. The iconoclast, the visionary, the madmen are all versions of the Rebel. They behave in ways that are anathema to a System, a kind of fast acting poison that shows the System for what it is: a fragile orchid that does one thing and does it well.
What we do not discuss, openly, is the cost to the Rebel. The price the Rebel must pay to function outside of the System. The cost of being different.
The Rebel cannot receive the rewards of the System. They cannot receive the support of the System. They function without a net, on a high wire, above a tank of sharks. While failure within a System has minor repercussions, failure outside of that System has terrible costs.
The Rebel also has access to rewards outside the bounds of the System. The Rebel can reach and grasp for things that are outside the reality of the System. Sure, you could excel in academia and become a world renowned professor. Or, if you rebelled, you could be the first person to use micro-satellites to provide internet connection to populations suffering under oppressive regimes. Or an amazingly healthy pudding.
But, it’s not all success outside the system. For every Rebel that has achieved something that redefines the world as we know it, there are hundreds who have disappeared into the night, into quiet lives of debt slavery and drudge work. For every Rebel that has achieved something grander, there are thousands who died of exposure on the slopes of the mountain.
If that cost frightens you, then stay within the confines of the System. There is no shame in that. Fear of loss, fear of suffering, and fear of shame are all reasonable fears.
The lesson from the wonderful work of Lubinski et al is that, given certain criteria, we can identify the kids that, given the right encouragement and support, will grow up to be amazing people who will contribute to our society. They will excel within a system designed to help them excel, a system that will amplify their inherent abilities.
The other lesson is that if you feel like a failure, maybe you’re trying to succeed in the wrong system. Maybe your inherent abilities are not what the system values. Maybe your skills, no matter how much you develop them, are truly in the middle of the bell curve for that system.
But if you hate the idea of that, maybe it’s time to Rebel.
