How Life Became an Endless, Terrible Competition
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/meritocracys-miserable-winners/594760/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/meritocracys-miserable-winners/594760/
Soylent Green Is People said:Nailed it, Happiness.
Burning 60-70 hours per week.... used to be the norm in a pre-industrial society. Now that we have more machines and fewer skilled workers, we will always need some to work more than others. The reward is that the readers of this blog get to live in a premium area, sending their kids to top rated schools, enjoying the best climate on earth (IMHO). If one wants a slower pace towards a successful, and meaningful life, there's always Riverside, or Louisiana, or West Virginia.
If this person really believed what he writes, perhaps giving up tenure would be a solid demonstration of this. His existence within the University blocks so many other hard workers willing to do the same job, perhaps better, yet have zero opportunity with so much "old growth forest" to chop down. I'm not holding my breath here as this is another solid example of "do as I say, not as I do" - from someone who also gets 3-4 months off each year at full pay!
My .02c
misme said:Isn't this the reason why the FIRE movement is gaining popularity?
Those who "win" in this current meritocratic academic system get the "prize" of highly lucrative, yet also soul sucking careers in big law, consulting, hedge funds, venture capital, tech, etc.
Many dream of the day in which they have saved enough or had a liquidity event big enough that they can cash out, retire early.
I've got a lot of old schoolmates who fit this situation. (double Ivy degree). Outward "success" does not necessarily translate into personal happiness or fulfillment. Many of my friends and acquaintances who have school aged children are wracked by insecurity about how to ensure their own children can achieve the same success they did in this test and achievement based system. Its a never ending treadmill where the prize for working hard and succeeding is to get to work even harder.
Orange County is more relaxed than some of the big cities like NYC, LA, SF, and for that I am grateful to be living here and raising my kids away from that rat race.
Happiness said:Rich or poor, famous or obscure, smart or dumb, attractive or ugly, accomplished or not, we will all die in the end.
So don?t worry about where you are relative to your neighbors and peers. Everyone will eventually be equal.
momopi said:The 10 occupations with the highest divorce rates:
Gaming managers ? 52.9%
Bartenders ? 52.7%
Flight attendants ? 50.5%
Gaming services workers ? 50.3%
Rolling machine setters, operators and tenders, metal and plastic ? 50.1%
Switchboard operators ? 49.7%
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators and tenders, metal and plastic ? 49.6%
Telemarketers ? 49.2%
Textile knitting and weaving machine operators ? 48.9%
Extruding, forming, pressing and compacting machine setters, operators and tenders ? 48.8%
MTalltheway said:misme said:Isn't this the reason why the FIRE movement is gaining popularity?
Those who "win" in this current meritocratic academic system get the "prize" of highly lucrative, yet also soul sucking careers in big law, consulting, hedge funds, venture capital, tech, etc.
Many dream of the day in which they have saved enough or had a liquidity event big enough that they can cash out, retire early.
I've got a lot of old schoolmates who fit this situation. (double Ivy degree). Outward "success" does not necessarily translate into personal happiness or fulfillment. Many of my friends and acquaintances who have school aged children are wracked by insecurity about how to ensure their own children can achieve the same success they did in this test and achievement based system. Its a never ending treadmill where the prize for working hard and succeeding is to get to work even harder.
Orange County is more relaxed than some of the big cities like NYC, LA, SF, and for that I am grateful to be living here and raising my kids away from that rat race.
Yup, FIRE baby! I'm willing to bet that most of those "winners" you're talking about might be spending too much and not saving enough. It's not like those C-level executives or other big wage earners don't get paid enough... for example, executive management compensation has really exploded in growth compared to the wages of the average worker.
If they were to just save a little bit more, they could realistically retire early & then have all the time in the world to enjoy their lives... But we see too many instead choosing expensive homes, cars, and other trappings over savings. Those guys just need to dig-in, work those 60+ hours for decade or so, and then retire...
However I will admit that you really do need to be very thrifty DINK's nowadays to be able to something like that without the executive salary part. But hey, at least the opportunity is still there with some sacrifice.
Liar Loan said:On a separate topic, maybe I'm just uneducated, but what is the purpose of pursuing a Harvard/Ivy degree so hard? Does it pay better once you normalize for major and/or career path? Do you get to relish in the prestige of this degree? I'm curious what makes it so worthwhile to put every other aspect of your life - happiness, family life, childhood, personal fulfillment - on the back burner?
I was friends with the valedictorian of my graduating class and she went to Harvard. She's now a doctor in the Bay Area. Would she be any less of a doctor for not attending Harvard?
The #2 student in our class was somebody that I was also friends with, and when we were graduating he started crying because he felt like a failure for only getting into Stanford. He's now a lawyer in private practice. Would his practice be any less successful if he had just relaxed and had some fun in high school? You only get one childhood.
Liar Loan said:On a separate topic, maybe I'm just uneducated, but what is the purpose of pursuing a Harvard/Ivy degree so hard? Does it pay better once you normalize for major and/or career path? Do you get to relish in the prestige of this degree? I'm curious what makes it so worthwhile to put every other aspect of your life - happiness, family life, childhood, personal fulfillment - on the back burner?
I was friends with the valedictorian of my graduating class and she went to Harvard. She's now a doctor in the Bay Area. Would she be any less of a doctor for not attending Harvard?
The #2 student in our class was somebody that I was also friends with, and when we were graduating he started crying because he felt like a failure for only getting into Stanford. He's now a lawyer in private practice. Would his practice be any less successful if he had just relaxed and had some fun in high school? You only get one childhood.
Liar Loan said:On a separate topic, maybe I'm just uneducated, but what is the purpose of pursuing a Harvard/Ivy degree so hard? Does it pay better once you normalize for major and/or career path? Do you get to relish in the prestige of this degree? I'm curious what makes it so worthwhile to put every other aspect of your life - happiness, family life, childhood, personal fulfillment - on the back burner?
I was friends with the valedictorian of my graduating class and she went to Harvard. She's now a doctor in the Bay Area. Would she be any less of a doctor for not attending Harvard?
The #2 student in our class was somebody that I was also friends with, and when we were graduating he started crying because he felt like a failure for only getting into Stanford. He's now a lawyer in private practice. Would his practice be any less successful if he had just relaxed and had some fun in high school? You only get one childhood.