In his mega-best seller The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman described the “American Idol Effect.” It happens to people who are facing criticism for the first time and are shocked to hear that they aren’t perfect. He pulls the comparison to wannabe American Idols when they faced Simon Cowell for the first time and were not ready for what they heard.
Some huffed, some threw water, and some just melted down and yelled obscenities.
Friedman was making the point that we are doing a disservice to American high school students when we leave them to incorrectly think that they are performing at a high level. The longer we put off telling them the truth, the harsher their American Idol moment.
Simon Cowell delivered American Idol moments like no one else could. He was blunt, succinct, and sometimes over-harsh. But he told the contestants what they needed to hear. He send extra sharp words to contestants that didn’t seem to hear normal critique, he used colorful analogies and metaphor for contestants that didn’t seem to “get it”, and sometimes he would say what a contestant needed to get a fire lit under their butt. He was the best at it and sometimes hated for it.
What Simon did so well is not easy. By nature people prefer to deliver good news and be liked. Teachers, parents, friends included. But everyone needs a Simon. Whether it was the whiner who Simon told, “never beg” or the many who were informed that they’d be better suited for cabaret singing. They all needed to hear it. It is too bad that they had to wait until adulthood.
On the occasion that Simon laid out a compliment or offered a “well done”, everyone knew that it meant something. It was earned and was a fail-proof sign that a performer was “getting it done.” The same cannot be said for the multiple (over) affirmations students receive in their daily lives. They come so often and for so many reasons, the students sometimes never grasp where reality is.
The exception to the rule is students who perform in front of others and allow themselves to be judged. Kids who perform and compete in band, drama, choir, debate, public speaking, and sports are told daily where they need to improve. They are also judged (sometimes unfairly) by spectators. These kids get it. They face it at an early age and they get the reality of where their performance is. They also grow as people.
In the cycle of correction, adjustment, performance, and critique are lessons that so many American Idol wannabes don’t get. And they show the ill effects in the first round, to the sadistic delight of television viewers everywhere.
What says you? Leave a comment and let’s get to the bottom of this.
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