I very rarely am drawn into the relms of pop culture, but recently Susan Boyle’s rise to stardom on Britain’s Got Talent caught my attention.  I am impressed by the story because there are so many wonderful messages for our young children.  Frankly these messages come through best just by watching her first appearance on the show:

Here! Unfortunately YouTube is currently not allowing embedding on this video. If this changes, I will update

The two obvious morals are:

• You’re never too old to pursue your dreams
• Don’t judge a book by its cover

They are very straight forward, very obvious from the video, but more importantly teach us to really consider our judgement of individuals or situations at first glance.  We need to be thoughtful, mindful individuals capable of decision making based on a well-rounded understanding of situations.  Susan certainly never questioned her abilities in her first performance.  Susan subsequently performed in the semifinals and finals, ultimately coming in 2nd place overall.  The second place finish was pretty irrelevant, as she captured the world’s attention with her sassy, simple, yet elegant approach to stage performance.

Embedded below are both the semifinal and final performances.

As I examined my thoughts about Susan more, I came to the realization that there were more messages in her story than my initial take.  I think, in terms of teaching and learning, these messages are even more important that the initial, obvious ones:

• Excellence comes from hard work
• Quality is always quality

So many students (and for that matter, adults) are caught up in the idea that success comes from luck.  Why are people rich?  Why are actors in movies? Why did Susie get a good grade?  They think it’s because these individuals are lucky.  How far from the truth.  It’s because they work hard.  Success is certainly not a factor of luck:  it’s a factor of perseverance, task commitment, and dedication.  There is tremendous value to believing in yourself, and knowing that good things happen because they are deserved and earned.

Susan also shows us that quality is quality.  We know what good is and we know what bad is.  There generally is very little question which is which.  When you produce a product laced with pride and excellence, its good.  When the lazy route is taken, it’s not.  Quality is not a crap shoot.  Quality comes from persistent good work, and dedication.  We know what quality is, and we know when it’s not there.  Frills and thrills without the fills just doesn’t cut it. 

Ultimately, Susan came in second place to a group called Diversity.  Watch their performance and recognize the same qualities as Susan: