The Oscar-winning Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey is speaking out this week to slam the idea of “participation trophies.”
McConaughey Sounds Off
While appearing on the podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty, McConaughey admitted that he isn’t a fan of “participation trophies.” Instead, it’s his quest for perfection that drives him.
“I’m not into extra credit. I don’t like 4.2 GPAs,” explained McConaughey, 56. “That tells me, like, what happened? Then we’re not giving the right tests. If 4.0 was the pinnacle, that means not many people should be getting it, if anybody.”
“So now we’re getting 4.2s, 4.4s,” he continued. “That tells me we’ve overleveraged the original task, or we’ve added amnesty or too many places to not have the real competence and merit at the task that you’re supposed to get, because, especially I think in the West, because we want everyone to feel really great. Participation trophies. 4.2 GPA.”
McConaughey went on to say that while people might feel better when receiving these things, when getting the 4.2 GPA they are “getting a 3.8 education.” This is because the extra credit they got is “balanced with the debit of the actual … what we learn from it.”
As for chasing perfection and failing, McConaughey confessed that he thinks it’s important to grow. He stressed the importance of going into a situation knowing perfection is impossible but still having faith.
“I feel like it keeps me in the chase,” he added. “Keeps me in the race.”
McConaughey’s Previous Comments
Back in September, McConaughey told Fox News why his motto of “Just Keep Livin” is how he approaches his life in order to “do my best to take care of the family.”
McConaughey has has been married to the Brazilian super model Camila Alves since 2012. They are parents to three children: Levi, 17, Vida, 16, and Livingston, 13.
“That’s something that’s non-negotiable in my life,” McConaughey stated. “That’s one of those fires that’s going to … I started when I met Camilla 19 years ago, and we’ve continued as we have kids, and when the kids get out of the house, and Camilla and I continue on, those are fires that I want to keep putting fuel on. I want to keep building those.”
“Those are non-negotiable,” he stressed. “,Those are always on my proverbial desk in my life.”
McConaughey Didn’t Prioritize Marriage
While appearing on This Past Weekend with Theo Von in November, McConaughey revealed that “I always knew I wanted to be a father.” He also said that though he knew that Alves was the one he wanted to start a family with, marriage was not a top priority for him.
McConaughey recalled the moment he told his mother that Alves was pregnant with his child even though they weren’t married. His mother reportedly went silent on the phone in response.
“Crickets,” he remembered. “Next thing you hear is, ‘No, no, no, no, no, Matthew! This is out of order! I didn’t raise you to do this. No, Matthew, you’re supposed to be married!’ And went on and on and on in a five-minute monologue and then hung up.”
McConaughey’s mother called back ten minutes later with an apology before congratulating them.
Thankfully, McConaughey and Alves did eventually marry, and they have been together ever since. When it comes to “participation trophies,” we can’t help but agree with McConaughey’s no-nonsense approach.
God bless you, Matthew McConaughey!