My C2 Proficiency (aka #CPE) essay 🐸

I don't often write for C2 Proficiency, but this topic is interesting to me on a personal level. Besides, I wrote an IELTS essay on a similar topic, so I was curious to write a CPE one too and compare.

(I am not sharing the input texts because there would be too much text for a Telegram post.)

"It is often said that laziness is the driver of progress. Yet, laziness is not encouraged, while hard work, industriousness, and perseverance are. Why do we value effort? Is it always a good idea to reinforce industry and diligence?   

Contrary to popular belief, humans are not intrinsically lazy creatures seeking to avoid expending effort when possible. In fact, people often opt for a more challenging task because what was effortful to achieve seems inherently valuable, so much so that people take unreasonable pride in poor outcomes. Yet, this innate human trait can be tapped into in order to cultivate diligence: a person is more likely to persevere if what they are rewarded for is effort rather than the outcome. Particularly striking is that this phenomenon, known as learned industriousness, can help motivate the person to exert effort not just in one area of pursuit, but in many. 

While this idea might seem appealing and even inspiring on the surface, I believe that on a deeper level, it is limited, if not outright detrimental. My major objection is that we live in the world of outcomes: grades at school and KPIs in the workplace. By reinforcing effort, we might set the person up for failure as they might have to face not getting admitted to a university or not getting promoted – all despite lavish praise for all the effort that they expended. Another danger is that industry, if not channeled in the right direction, might be wasteful. For example, a gifted musician might spend years industriously pursuing mathematics and art at the expense of rest or developing their talent. If they neither enjoy this nor achieve outstanding results, they might wonder one day what all this effort was for – and not get a convincing answer.  

Therefore, I believe that focus on effort is very short-sighted, so focus on the outcome is still necessary. At the same time, rewarding effort and rewarding the outcome are not mutually exclusive. Combining both might be the best approach. After all, if we take unreasonable pride in a poor outcome just because of our all-out effort, the pride we take in an outstanding feat that we put effort in will be not just reasonable – it will be meaningful. 

To conclude, while there is value in reinforcing effort – industriousness is a highly desirable trait in life – I think we embraced it too readily. Excessive focus on effort to the detriment of outcomes is not a viable approach in education or in the workplace because it distorts the person’s perception of their own skills and needs. As is often the case, balance is the best approach."

🐸 This essay was written for my "Writing with New Scientist CPE track" group. More about the course: https://m.vk.com/product-47977221_5061302 

🐸 And here is the post about an IELTS essay on a similar topic: https://t.me/irinalutsenko/623

#Irina_writes_cpe