The Incentive Society

Today I overheard a kid talking to her friend about exam, she said “If I get an A my dad would buy me a laptop”. Those words played over in my head a couple times. This is how it all happen I thought to myself. This is how it all begins. Let me tell you a story

Once upon a time lived a boy who’s smart and nice. He lived in a time when Education started to become accessible to the general public. He was the first in his family to go to school, soon he was smarter than everyone else in his family. This boy was often told by his Father to “take school seriously because I did not go to school, you must get an A so that you can do better in life than I did”. As time past the boy grows up and became a man, and sure enough after getting A(s) consecutively he did got offered a high paying job at a big firm. He continued to work jumping from one job to the other simply because the other one paid more money. He was told by everyone in the society that the more money he makes the more respect he’ll gain. People around him respected him because he was wealthy but the feeling of Pride didn’t last, he would work harder to get paid more so that he receives more respect and it goes on and on. Soon he got marriage and had a baby girl. When his daughter was 9 years old, he went to sit with her one day while she was studying for exam, he said to her “If you get an A I will buy you a laptop”.

The story of the girl’s father was made up but the essence remains. The story of the girl’s father may not have been 100% factual but I can guarantee you that it was probably similar to the reality. And this story doesn’t just apply to one or two families, it is the story of most family in the world. We humans are not designed to follow orders and receive rewards, we are designed to find purpose both in our personal and professional life. Without knowing WHY we do what we do, we will never be fully satisfied with our life. The main cause for Incentive base thinking is the Education system. We go to school and study about things of all sort, we also study the past (History) but have you ever wondered why we never learned about how the School System came to be? It’s because school was created with the wrong intention. It started when the British ruled the world, school was needed to train everyone to be the same so that the British government could send these people anywhere in the world and they would be able to do the job required. They started the schooling system because they needed to turn Kids into a Machine to work in factories and offices anywhere in the world. That’s how they kept they’re Empire running.

But when they thought that we would figure that out, they created an incentive system. The lollipops, money, job’s security and a lot others. To lure us into this addiction so that we crave for more. But you can stop this today and break the wheel so that this cycle does not go on. It starts with you and your family.

Don’t get me wrong, money is very important but it’s not the most important thing in the world. Integrity, self worth and an overall fulfillment in life is more important. What do you think?

Originally posted at Pacious