In “The Protestant Work Ethic: Just Another “Urban Legend”?” by Jonathan Klemens. He describes the importance of the work ethic and how it works on the economy and society. Klemens thinks the work ethic is hard work builds on motivation and devotion, and offers personal power to serve the public and benefit society. I agree with Klemens’s claim that this work ethic is firmly entrenched as a powerful and valued American social trait. People can learn a lot from this social trait because work ethic can train people to develop good character and independent thinking, let people realize the spirit of never giving up and try their best to fight for their future.
Klemens uses some examples to support his opinion in the article. Firstly, Klemens talks about why work ethic connects with a person and group, and the concept of work ethics, and he also uses the words of the founder of the Shaker sect to emphasize how work ethic effects and works on people. Secondly, he says Max Weber is the historical roots of the protestant work ethic and how his concept influences America.
Then, he talks about Weber’s opinions about the traits of a strong work ethic: focus on work, unpretentious and modest comportment, and honesty and ethics. Lastly, Klemens describes free labor makes capitalism and America strong and powerful, the influence of work ethic is firmly entrenched in America. He also says people need a committed and innovative leader while having a work ethic.
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Work ethic will make people do their need to finish for their job. Even though people may lose motivation to keep doing work, it also trains them and makes them realize the importance of persistence and never give up. For example, I used to live with my host family for two years. Their family is Mexican immigrants, they were born in America and they received American education from childhood. My host mom told me about her experience. She grew up in an environment without speaking English, so she needed to translate everything to her family.
My host mom had to overcome a lot of difficulties, like learning English words, understanding classes’ contents, enduring ridicule from others. She studied hard and had a stable job and income finally. When my host mom was working, I could feel she is honest, hard-working, and focused, and she showed the American work ethic. However, she didn’t like her job. I was confused about her attitude. If she didn’t like her job, why did I see her motivation all the time?
Compared to my host mom, I was different from her. I only showed my interests and motivation when I was doing something that I wanted to do. If I had to do something I didn’t like, I would be very resistant to what I was going to do. I complained a lot about something that I didn’t want to do, and I had a hard time focusing on my work. I couldn’t get a good result from things that I was doing now. Therefore, I decided to ask my host mom questions. My question was why she didn’t change her job. She told me she didn’t like her job because she didn’t like to do a lot of paperwork. I asked her if she could ask her directions to reduce the amount of work. She said, ‘I know everyone will worry about me like this job or not.
Although I think this job is boring, that’s still my job. Until I find another job, my task is to do my part well. Only by doing it well can I get a good reward. I won’t be doing this job forever. The experience I’ve gained is a valuable asset to me. I can make myself better and win a good future for myself.’ After the question, she went back and kept doing her job. I thought she was right. When I face a job that I didn’t want to, I can’t choose to give up. The reason is giving up only gains nothing and it is impossible to achieve self-worth.
The work ethic is closely related to each job, every employee as a member of society should assume a basic moral obligation to the whole society, which is the moral within responsibility. Human moral qualities and standards of behavior are important. I think this means that people should take responsibility for their work.
Plato, a famous thinker in ancient Greece, proposed in the book ‘Republic’ that the professional ethics of rulers are wisdom, the professional ethics of warriors are bravery, and the professional ethics of businessmen and craftsmen are temperance. Fairness is a moral principle that various professional personnel abide by together, requiring people to do their own thing and keep their duties. Therefore, high school learning spirit can be a great example. Every student has the responsibility to finish their work at school. Individuals have their own duties. Students ’duty is to study hard and study a lot.
They should listen to the class seriously, go home, and seriously review and write homework. This is an important principle. Students may be able to obtain information and knowledge through reading, but many things also need the teacher’s guidance. This is the reason why students need to go to school for study. However, if a student doesn’t take his or her own responsibilities for studying, he or she can’t improve themselves and become a better person, because this kind of person won’t think about their future and just care about something happening now. For students who don’t establish a complete outlook on life and values.
The cultural knowledge and moral concepts learned in school are more than just improving their literary literacy and teaching them to understand what is good and what is wrong. A greater role is to broaden their horizons and enhance the realm of thought. Students can become independent thinkers instead of a crowd of people who do nothing. Students can develop good characters and know things that they need to do and work hard for that.
In conclusion, work ethic can be a powerful and valued social trait in America. The reason is people can realize their responsibilities for things that they need to do now. They also can learn good things to improve themselves and work hard for their future. Work ethic has a certain human commonality. Reasonable work ethic belongs to the category of mass morality, which reflects that each person as a member of society assumes a basic moral obligation to the entire society, which is the virtue within responsibility. This virtue within responsibility is not unattainable, but it can be achieved by everyone who strives for it. Work ethic is the most important basic moral in the whole society’s moral life. The civic moral construction of society needs to start with the construction of work ethic. This is what everyone needs to work on now.
