Teachers who say they don’t grade on a curve are lying!
Everything we do in life is relative; measured against the performance of others or against existing expectations, (which are based on the previous performance of others).
Today, as I gave feedback to business students on their assignments, a few of the students were searching for a glimpse of the least impressive plan to compare to their own. Their quest to seek comfort in being the second worst surprised me.
If someone told you that you were a little less unattractive than the ugliest person they had ever seen or that you were not quite as rude as the most horrible person they ever met, I am sure you wouldn’t take it as a compliment! Why is it okay to tell yourself the same kind of things, that almost being the worst is good enough for you?
Do you strive to set the standard? Are you always pushing to raise the bar or do you try to see how little effort you can get away with exerting?
Suzy Ogé is an American born business woman living in The Hague, The Netherlands. 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This really made me laugh! It is amazing how we all get stuck living and working towards standard.
In my language/country (Dutch, The Netherlands) we even have a word for this ‘living and working towards standard’. It’s ‘the 6′s-culture’ which refers to our grading system (1 is lowest school grade, 10 highest, 6 is passing grade). After reading this post I suppose it’s not uncommon for the same to apply to career people? (and not just students)