David Warlick is among those people who often piques my thinking. In his blog post today, he ended with what I think is a very telling and keen insight.

The world has become more cooperative, not competitive.

link: 2¢ Worth » The World has become A Lot More Interesting

I don't think we should ever discount the power of competitiveness. But I am concerned that the American psyche goes much too far, and in the wrong direction, with the whole notion of competition. Often the emphasis is on "survival of the fittest" in the way we think about most things. Those are very concerning words to me as they suggest someone, or someone's company, or someone's ideas will not survive.

I have always found that the most challenging competition I personally face is with myself--to consistently live a culture of personal best. As a school principal I frequently tried to convey this notion of living a culture of personal best. Our students often understand competition on the ball field as beating the opposing team. But doesn't this implicitly require the player's individual best work in a sense of cooperation with team?

And by some curious disconnect, our students frequently fail to bring that sense of striving to produce personal best work into their academic efforts in school.

I think David has brought to light something profound. In the 21st century, success is to be measured by intrinsic measures more than extrinsic measures such as competition against others, higher test scores from schools, more widgets for less money...

Success is about fulfillment, contribution, empathy, empowerment, cooperation, personal satisfaction. It is feeling-full (internal) more that it is external to our sense of being, or sense of self. Yet I frequently hear as the sole justification for school, preparing students to be "competitive in the global job market." (There was a time when I even fell into this limited way of thinking myself.)

Life is about more than that! And school should be as well. What ever happened to the ideals of the liberal arts education that so deeply focused on intrinsic value?!

The Japanese have a wonderful saying that translates into, "Don't disturb the harmony." They value the interconnectedness of community, the cooperative spirit. I have never met a more gracious and delightful people. The Asian cultures as a whole seem to value cooperation and belonging.

I suspect our culture, our very way of thinking about life, needs to strike a decidedly different balance between the rugged individualism on which this nation was built (which seems to have grown from survival to competitiveness, external rewards, consumption, "It's all about me") and a newfound capacity for cooperation with the other people in our families, in our communities, and in the community of nations as this planet shrinks.

I really believe in my heart that, ultimately, focusing on human empowerment both in our work as educators (and workers generally) and in our educational plans for students will take us much further than test scores ever will. The former is intrinsic, the later is extrinsic. The former is about competing with ourselves, the later is about just doing what it takes to survive. I believe most people want more than mere survival. We want to thrive.

Thanks David, for the inspiration.