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Who ought to survive?



It is not the strongest of the species that survive,
nor the most intelligent,
but the one most responsive to change.
--- CHARLES DARWIN

"We are social animals. We derive pleasure from positive social interaction. It's part of our brain chemistry. And far from being inherently violent, humans demonstrate a natural abhorrence of violence and conflict. We have to train soldiers to kill. It's not instinctive."
--- Robert Sussman
professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University
in St. Louis
Charles Darwin and Professor Robert Sussman may both be right. While humans attempt to adapt in order to survive, these ways of survival may just be the expression of the inherent goodness in human beings. In short, unselfish altruisms may just be a way of survival -- nothing more than that.
Every single day, we encounter challenges that compel us to make decisions -- to choose what is good for us and eliminate what is harmful for us. The good thing is, our trash can be somebody else's treasure. So without much effort to give, we are able to become "unselfish" and survive in the end.
In our lives, especially in the academe, "survival of the fittest" is the name of the game. In classrooms, the most intelligent sometimes just drop out of college because of a belief that he is much more intelligent than the professor. ( I know a handful of students who are like this) The strongest usually slow down in the absence of motivation. But the most flexible student survives. As what Timoun in the movie LION KING said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going!"
The same thing is true with teachers. The ones who survive are not those who are the brightest, not those who graduated cum laude, but those who can relate and adjust well to the academic environment. This kind of environment includes pressure from the administration, expectations from the students, requests from the parents, and the watchful eyes of the immediate bosses.
reference:
McClain, T. (2004). Survival of the fittest?Anthropologist suggests the nicest prevail ? not just the selfish. Washington University in st. Louis News & Information. Available: http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/902.html.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Really amazing! Useful information. All the best.
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12:50 AM
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