Everybody's a Critic!

3/9/2015

"The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism." - Norman Vincent Peale

Does this apply to our society today? To your generation? Use evidence to defend your position.

14 Comments

Rachel Giannettino

3/12/2015 07:32:22 am

Yes, I do believe this is true with our generation. When someone is having a bad day and they look themselves in the mirror knowing they have a bad hair day, they look for someone to say that isn't true. The person who is having a bad hair day is just looking to get praised. They want to feel better about themselves even though their hair actually looks bad. People will never say that their hair really looks bad. It is being nice saying someone has a good hair day. The person who has the bad hair day knows the person saying their hair looks good is lying. But having that little bit of praise will make them feel a little bit better about themselves. People are afraid to get criticism because it will hurt their feeling. This is a problem in our generations because we take everything too harsh, a little criticism isn't going to really hurt your feelings if anything it can help you become stronger so if you feel bad it will only help you in the long run.

Gavin Nixon

3/12/2015 08:07:18 am

A lot of people would be ruined with praise, but others have learned that praise is just a false comfort. Others have learned that constructive criticism will get you farther in life. Both of these apply to our generation, since we have learned how to reinforce our education for the most part. A lot of people will give credit where it is due and will complement people accordingly. On the other hand, more people are open to speak their minds about what others do, giving open criticism to people. The way people use this criticism will determine if they will be ruined by praise or will accept that they are not perfect and work with the criticism. Personally i think that this depends on the person, and the way they look at life. In my experience, i have noticed that shyer people are more willing to change while the more outgoing people are less likely to change. This can bee seen all over, even in your own friend groups if you pay attention enough.

Marc

3/12/2015 09:42:08 am

People today would rather be told that they are good at something when they actually are not. You see this most of the time with parents telling their children that they are good at a sport when they are not. they say this because they think that telling their child they are bad at a sport will hurt their feelings. When in reality it is completely ruining society. People need to be criticized the reason is criticism can actually help someone become good at something like a sport. Let say a freshmen in high school is trying out for the basketball team and the kid doesn't make the team. Now the parents say to their child its okay we know your good at basketball just try again next year. Well that is at times a bad thing. The parents or even their peers should say. Okay the reason why you didn't make the tam is because your shooting form is off. Here try shooting like this and practice it for next years try outs. That is constructive criticism. Your telling the person okay this is bad how ever this i how you can improve. If parents, teachers, and peers don't start using constructive criticism now with younger generations of kids than everyone will expect to get something. Instead of trying hard and practicing to get better. If people are telling you that your good at something when you are not actually that good at it than it can set you up for failure and discouragement in the long run.

Kevin Bachman

3/12/2015 09:54:34 am

In society today we are in fact ruined praise especially this generation. Praise creates pride which becomes over confidence, then becomes failure. A person must be told of their mistakes. You can not just encourage people, the child that the parents protect form failure will become a failure. Failure is part of life and you need to suck it up and move on, you are not going to get anywhere with out a little push. Obviously this only is suggested for preteens and up. Young adults do not learn through praise but a swift kick. The saying you learn from your mistakes fits perfectly here. Sure some encouragement is necessary, but mostly criticism that is needed.

Lauren Silversey

3/12/2015 10:00:16 am

In my opinion, this applies to some people in our society but personally, not me. Some people would rather get tons of compliments and have people pretend to praise them instead of getting criticism. To me people to me are very stubborn. Most people who prefer to be praised and ruined don't want to hear other people's opinions in a situation. Even if they're wrong they don't want other people to tell them. I do think you can find more people like this in our generation because kids nowadays are so praised by their parents and other people for the smallest things. Personally, I like criticism because I like to improve on everything I can. I am very ambitious and hard working and the more criticism I get, the better I feel about finalizing something. For example if I was doing a project or writing an essay, I would want someone to go over it with me to give me their insight of what I'm doing wrong or right. I would want them to be completely honest otherwise I wouldn't be learning anything. People who just use praise are going to get ruined like Norman Vincent Peale stated because they can't take the criticism.

Dana

3/12/2015 10:05:56 am

I believe that our society today would rather hear what they want instead of the truth. People tend to be overly sensitive when it comes to criticism and take everything personally. A man doesn't want to hear that his car could use a new paint job; he wants to hear that the scratches in it provide a sense of character and use. The term "ignorance is bliss" is more true than ever considering the blind eye our society turns towards controversy. More specifically, this is a recurring trend in America's youth. Those who are "young enough to not care" but "old enough to know better" are the downfall of our nation because they have the ability to make a change and choose not to. Information on raging wars and genocides is readily available online, but adolescents choose to live unbothered in oblivion. If people put half as much effort into staying updated with the news as they do keeping their phones charged, the world would be a far more informed place. After all, ignorance is intentional. It is legitimately difficult to be so daft as to not absorb knowledge around you. Nobody likes getting lied to, so why lie to yourself?

Nick

3/12/2015 10:17:32 am

The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism, does apply to our society today in many ways. This way of living life is destroying the world as we know it and has destroyed the world as the last generation knew it. Back in the time of our parents and even more so in the them of our parent's parents, people believed in hard work and being prideful in what they did. Through out the decades people have adopted this way of thinking; we would rather be told that we are doing a great job on something that we are bad at than be told to work harder on something that we are bad at. It is seen in almost every aspect of American society; in sports for children everyone gets a trophy no matter how awful they are. In any kind of event whether it be a science fair or a race in go-karts everyone gets a medal of some sort in ages 13 and under. Do this to the young kids drills this mentality into them. It teaches them that they don't need critics, because they are all the best at everything.

Tim Seibert

3/12/2015 11:29:58 am

This indubitably applies to society today. A prime example is the "participation trophy". People get praised for doing poorly. This just shows that our society would rather be praised and fail than be criticized and succeed. Sometimes, harshness is necessary in order to ensure success. This has been proven true throughout history. A participation trophy will make someone think what he did was good enough. The next time he does the same activity, no more effort will be put in, and the outcome will be the same. Criticism would serve to show how he could improve. Of course, there should be a limit. Constructive criticism is helpful, while simply telling someone he is wrong does nothing except make the criticized party feel bad.

Alex Galla

3/12/2015 12:31:38 pm

In this generation you see a lot of people walking around "not caring" what other people think about them. I believe that this philosophy about not caring came about because you can never get a straight answer from somebody when you ask a question. Our generation is packed full of people that don't want to hear the truth because its "rude" and "harsh" and "offensive", but they don't want to hear you sugar coat it either because that's lying and lying is wrong. The fact of the matter is that the truth is almost always helpful. My breath is bad? Tell me so I can go get a mint. My hair has a knot in the back? Tell me so I can brush it out. I suck at dancing? Tell me so I can make an educated decision on whether or not I want to continue to dance. While the truth may be somewhat harsh sometimes, telling it is most certainly better than the alternative which is like giving trophies to all the little kids running around on the soccer field because they tried, instead of just the ones who earned it.The latter only succeeds in raising people who aren't used to being told what they need to hear.

Kaley

3/12/2015 12:52:15 pm

Society today only listens to praise, whether the people deserve it or not. With criticism comes change, and change is never perceived well. Those who are not willing to make changes in their lives are the ones who refuse to listen to any sort of criticism. For example, the feeling of entitlement that our generation has fuels the fire. Automatically, anything pointed out that is followed by advice to make something better is assumed as being harsh rather than innocent. Too often constructive criticism is taken as an insult, when it comes from another person. In general, for men and women, we criticize ourselves, but only for the purpose of getting praise in return. In my opinion, there needs to be a better mixture of both learning from criticism, as well as accepting compliments. It is impossible to get any better than you currently are with whatever you do without accepting your flaws, and working on them. People today want to believe there is no room for improvement, which is also why people don't always reach their full potentials, because they believe with all the praise they get there is nothing to work on.

Catherine

3/12/2015 01:04:48 pm

Kids today are too used to hearing how great they are even if they are terrible. And then, when someone has the guts to tell them otherwise they get upset and are then coddled by their parents and coaches and everyone else who is told that they can't tell kids that they need to work on something because it will destroy their self esteem. However I do agree that there is a limit to how much criticism one can take before the negativity turns into a self fulfilling prophecy and that child is left for the rest of his or her life believing that they will never amount to anything. If we were straightforward with kids and they were taught to take criticism we would be in a much better place. Also I believe that the participation trophies and medals and ribbons and certificates need to stop. It is only teaching kids that they can not try and still get the sane award as the kids who worked their butts off and actually succeeded.

Mikayla

3/12/2015 03:27:48 pm

In today's society everyone wants to follow what the community is doing. So if everyone started dying their hair pink, then if you didn't dye your hair pink you'd be criticized. People care what other people think more than they care what they want. So, yes i believe that this is happening to our generation and the further generation after us. I believe that we should start caring about only what we think of ourselves and by doing this it will make us work harder to get what we want instead of just taking it from other people comment, thoughts, or actions.

John Tkacz

3/13/2015 01:46:23 am

In society today we are and will continue to be ruined by praise. Your peers are more likely to praise what you are doing instead of being blunt and criticizing your work because they fear you will not like what they have to say and despise you for it. I believe that this phenomenon is specific to our generation. With today's generation you can post online and complain about the most insignificant things and your friends will be right there to back you up and agree with you rather than arguing with. And with the rise in use of social media this trend is only going to continue to grow.

Chris Keithline

3/15/2015 08:08:26 am

Yes, I do believe that this accounts in our society today. Our minds rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. In anyone's conscience, we would rather be granted for what anyone has done rather than being criticised for doing something wrong. For example, one would rather be praised for pitching a strike in baseball, but one would not want one to comment and criticise them for having the incorrect mechanics. One does not want to know what they are doing wrong, however, they would want to be praised for doing something good for either themselves or a society. No one wants to hea someone say that they are doing something wrong, they only want to hear the positive aspects of what they are doing. Praising whomever it occurs will give them positive aspects. Criticising them will only make them depressed. People would rather be prised for wht they do, even if it means that they are doing something wrong.

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