I was teaching high school English in 2002 when the Bush-era “No Child Left Behind” law set the target that every student had to meet grade level expectations on standardized tests by 2014. Sitting in faculty meetings and in-service presentations regarding the new law and knowing full well just how academically lazy so many of our school’s students were, my personal belief was it was a nice aspirational goal that was completely unrealistic. Individuals will always vary in terms of intrinsic motivation and a willingness to work, and no law can change this fact. 

The obvious and destructive workaround to this reality, one that almost every state adopted, was to ruthlessly lower academic standards to allow more and more students to be magically deemed “proficient” and so permit their education bureaucracies to declare illusory victories. However, even the most outrageous fiddling with the numbers ultimately failed; so-called proficiency tended to stall at less than 50% of students because lowering standards will never make anyone hardworking—and will likely backfire in the long term by encouraging sloth and apathy.

Real-life constraints will always get in the way of self-comforting rhetoric. The political, social, and cultural rush to lower standards for achievement and behavior throughout America over the past few decades has aptly proven the truism that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Instead of recognizing the undeniable necessity of rewarding those who work hard and avoid self-destructive behaviors, we have been continually encouraged by demagogues and professional haters to sort ourselves into silos of group victimization while blaming others for our own failures and shortcomings, which has produced a degree of nihilism and dependence all across America one could scarcely have imagined possible in the not so distant past.

Although our nation and the imperfect people within it are obviously not always entirely fair, we can fairly assert that those who show up for their jobs and classes every day, work attentively, treat themselves and others with respect, and take good care of their bodies and minds are likely to live happier and more fulfilling lives than those who do the opposite—regardless of race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, or physical abilities. Insisting that every one of our successes and failures are predestined by intractably bigoted societal forces and attitudes both demotivates us as individuals and insults all those who reach their goals through their own hard work and dedication. The unhappy and unhelpful belief that our life paths are inevitably and irreversibly determined at the moment of birth is a recipe for despair and rage that helps no one—and harms everyone.

As I used to point out to my students when they asserted that they were “just not good” at reading and writing, no one is born literate. These are skills that, barring a mental incapacity, anyone can learn if they are willing to expend enough time and effort. This equation of “work equals success” holds true for a great many other endeavors in our lives. If you fill your days watching TikTok videos, taking naps, eating junk, and standing in line at your local marijuana dispensary, it is almost a sure bet that your neighbor getting up at six in the morning to attend school before heading off to their job—and later doing homework until they go to bed—is going to have a much better life than you in five years.

Although some are victimized by others or circumstances wholly outside their control such a serious illness or injury, most of those who watch their lives fall to pieces have victimized themselves. Unfortunately, anyone openly pushing back against today’s fashionable intolerance for the traditional American values of hard work, personal responsibility, and individual restraint runs the risk of being kicked off social media, doxxed, and harassed at their school or job, so the narrative remains a seemingly endless parade of sob stories and finger pointing. This is a collective exercise in national suicide that empowers leaders who soothe us with handouts and encourage our hatreds of others, which explains much of the political polarization paralyzing our country today.

Here’s a tip from someone who has lived through many years of life’s up and downs: No matter what is thrown your way—the good, the bad, and the indifferent—keep going and don’t stop. Look inside yourself, build on your strengths and abilities each day—and leave the whining behind. Traditionally, this has been a reliable path to success.