Bernie Michalik's posterous site

My son plays house league hockey, where there is little stratification.
Everyone gets an equal turn, and if there is any stratification of players,
it is only so the weaker players don't get overwhelmed by the stronger
players.

Yet even in very young players stratification occurs, with Select players
(I.e the better players) being selected to play on special teams.
Stratification already occurs at age 7.

There have always been better and lesser players whenever kids play
anything. However you need an organization to say: these people are better
than those people and therefore they will get certain privileges and
opportunities. But it is not just sports: it happens in school and academia
too.

Now I am not against this. I think if someone excels in something, they
should be given an opportunity to pursue it.

The same thing happens at work. I have colleagues much more ambitious than
I who have pursued and achieved higher positions than I and they were able
to do so because the organization I work for is stratified like most large
organizations.

The problem with stratification is when it becomes a matter of saying those
on one side or on top have value and all the opportunities, and everyone
else has little or no value and little or no opportunity. To me the best
stratification is one where every level is perceived as having value, and
there are enough levels that moving from one to another is possible with
sufficient but not extraordinary effort. And everyone has an opportunity to
participate and contribute.

There is a flip side to stratification as well. There are tradeoffs to be
made in any pursuit of higher levels, and there is often not enough focus
on that. If you want to become a better athlete, you have to practice a
good deal. If you wan to become a better writer, you have to write a lot.
And doing a lot of that means giving up some of the other good things in
life. Sometimes people are chided for being average or mediocre, but I
think people weigh the tradeoffs and make reasonable decisions about
choicesd and commitments.
(And mediocre is one of those words like jerk or loser that indicates
general disapproval with providing much more information.)

It is taken for granted, but there is something great in encouraging kids
to "work hard, do your best, have fun, be a good sport, play fair". Those
are good values to have, regardless of what you do. Likewise, organizations
should reward hard work, recognize your best, support a fun environment,
enforce fainess and stress the importance of being a good sport. If they
did, this would be bebeficial for all.

Thanks for putting in the effort to read this. I hope you are recognized
for the good effort you put in and you are rewarded accordingly.

(Photo is of a company HeadQuarters)
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