Top Teen Topics 3: Pressure

The most common topic to come up in my survey of "What are the issues on the minds of 14-15 year olds" was feeling pressure about grades.
 
I felt them too.  To this day, I remember getting my first B.  When I brought my report card home to my parents, I wasn't praised for the 4 or 5 As, I was asked, "Why did you get a B?"  That stuck with me a long time. 

There is a lot of pressure to be smart these days.  It goes all the way back to babyhood!  Did you ever watch those "Baby Einstein" videos growing up?  The premise behind these was that they would make babies smarter.
 
There was also a movement that encouraged pregnant parents to play classical

music to their kids in utero believing that it would stimulate brain waves!
 
No wonder there's so much pressure on kids to achieve grand academics.  Our society seems to think that intelligence will provide you the best life.
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this is an ideological lie. 
 
  People within the Pharisee-driven Judaism of the first century lived in a framework that said, "If you follow all the kosher rules, you can have standing before God and people."  Since the people lived in that ideology they didn't think it existed...it just was.  Jesus helped people see the ideology and that they could, and needed to, rebel against it. 

Jesus fought an ideological lie.
 
He hit this so clearly when he told a parable of a tax collector (someone not following the right rules) and a Pharisee (the assumed good guy).  In the end, it is the loser who gets honest with Father that goes home justified, not the guy who tries to act like he follows God even though his heart looks down on others.
 
Many young people today live in an ideology they don't know exists that says: intelligence is the gateway to the best, most meaningful life. 
 
Let's play a game.  Guess the answer to the following questions.
 
I have 5 daughters.  If I had to choose, would I want them to:

have a good degree or a good marriage?

graduate at the top of their class or be a good friend?

get all As or learn how to play a musical instrument?

be CEO of a successful company or raise loving children?

get a PhD or be an honest person?

go to an Ivy League college or feel loved by God?

make six-figures a year at their job or have a healthy, meaningful marriage?
 
I think the answers are pretty obvious right?  That's because you just saw through the ideological lie.  Intelligence, academic achievement, and book smarts do not necessarily make for meaningful lives.  What does, then?  Becoming a person of character, authenticity, and, finally learning how to love and be loved, or, in other words, studying relationships. 
 
If we set our sights on the long-term, we would see what truly makes a meaningful life.  And, if we believe that, we might focus our efforts in very different directions. 
 
But, alas, I leave you with a problem.  You may live inside a family or situation that pressures you to honor the lie.  This is where you may have to begin the massive, tremendously difficult part of life: to choose what's right even if you face opposition.