Hi Pat,
I like your analogy of grass. I like to think that I set my mower to 3 inches. There may be some that gets cut and others that may not. My thought is I set the standard as to what height my mower will start to cut. My thought is these two words are not mutually exclusive terms. Excellence has no fear of equality. Instead, it is determined by who establishes the standard. With our children we have the authority to set the standard where we believe challenges them. Taking your point on the olympians. Their parents put a determination in them, whether positive or negative, that motivated that athlete to excellence. I am sure as they worked their way to the olympics they passed a lot of people that were content with the manadated standards of equality. Yet, it did not hinder their growth; only gave rise to it by making the playing field all the more advantageous for them to make it.

The end point of my logic is every generation in every society there has and will continue to be those who exceed and those who do not. You cannot mandate the human spirit. Even if government tries to suppress it by engineering mandated equality, it still cannot stop those who have greatness in them. It still is up to the individual to pursue it.

Thanks,
RickeG