Matriculation Failure

You may be astonished, as I have been, to learn that the failure rate beyond high school and beyond college is much greater than it is in matriculation through those institutions.  Endless studies point out how much trouble there is with formal education today … with great numbers of high school students not being college-ready and college students not being job-ready.  But it happens to be small potatoes compared to the trouble people have in navigating the “real” world once they get OUT of a structured learning environment and into the DOING environment. 

For reference, add up the following numbers:

• People who are unemployed and who may be “unemployable”
• People filling positions for which they are not qualified
• People who simply show up for work and reluctantly do what they’re asked or told
• People “advanced” to positions where they do not impede progress
• People who get “passed over” for promotions
• People “stuck” in jobs they do not like
• People who “don’t fit” the job or organization
• People who outright get fired
• People whose jobs are downsized
• People whose positions are eliminated in “reorganizations”

Of course, many of these may be the same people!  However, add to this total the number of people who merely dream and whose dreams are never realized … who don’t win the Power Ball Jackpot … whose “ship” never comes in, etc., and the numbers become staggering.  

We don’t generally label such things as “failure” … maybe merely as “unlucky” … sometimes as “unfair”.  But it certainly takes the stuffing out of Dreams and possibilities.  

“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper”.

T. S. Eliot 

Paradoxically, those who eventually realize outstanding success are not unacquainted with failure.  It’s not all “favoritism” or “cheating”.   

What’s going on here?   

The formulations for success and failure are complex.  What eventually “works” is often the serendipitous culmination of a whole lot of unsuccessful, best-guess “shots in the dark”.  However, we know a considerable amount about what doesn’t work, and failure to continue our matriculation is one of those things.  Continuing advancement is an inextricable part of “The Deal” between us and our Destiny; the drive to achieve the best future we can envision doesn’t stop once the doors to formal education close behind us.  That’s only the beginning!

For many, it may not so much matter whether they won or lost, if they were at least “In the game” enough to win some. 

But for those who would like to win more, we need to go “out of our way” in advancing ourselves – through preparation … through life-long education … through training … through accepting increased responsibility … through the demonstration of “ownership” … through constantly resetting our assumptions, expectations and dependencies.   Unfortunately, a great number of folks quit pushing as soon as the first opportunity comes along.  Zig Ziglar famously told about the unfortunate lad who lasted only 3 weeks in his first venture: “He stopped looking for work as soon as he got a job!” 

For better or worse is the way the world works.  “For Better” actually looks a lot like “worse” (i.e., “harder”) in the making, but its rewards are ultimately much more certain and indelible.  And “Worse” looks a lot like “better” (at least “easier”) in the short run – because it requires nothing of any consequence; but it’s unconscionably harder in the main, and its rewards are lousy. 

Choose better!   

“A lot more people than necessary are leading lives that are a lot more difficult than necessary: some because they only ever had poor choices; some because they only ever made poor choices; some because they simply didn’t know any better; and some because they simply ‘couldn’t be bothered’.”   Quartermaster