While a collectivist society demands people to work in groups to acquire intelligence, wisdom, and skills from the social dynamics of their workplace, human feelings prevail the fact that happiness is the ultimate force which one desire the most beyond anything to deliver the ultimate value in life. In "The Fountainhead," Ayn Rand indirectly states that the current American society is suffering because too many people do not actively focus the human mind in a conscious level to benefit a productive life. In "How Are We To Live," Peter Singer suggests that people should take an ethical approach to find deeper satisfactions in life. In "Zen and the Art of Motorcycling Maintenance," Robert Pirsig emphasizes his belief that true happiness and peace of mind can only be achieved if we make "Quality" judgments in an effort to define the world around us. .
Writers Rand and Pirsig argues in different ways the proposition that happiness is the state of the conscious mind which can be achieved by combining both Rational and Romantic thinking process to achieve an Inner Peace and a higher Quality life. They argue that idea of a meaningful life cannot be created unless we focus on "Human Excellence" to acquire intelligence, wisdom, and skills from the technological and social dynamics of the world. All the writers view the importance of "Virtue Ethics" as an opportunity to learn Self-Understanding and Critical Awareness from where real freedom is attained. Both writers, Ayn Rand and Robert Pirsig believe that real education is not about what we learn from the collective society itself but rather integrating both practical and moral knowledge to acquire true virtue in life. Despite the fact that learning in a collectivist culture helps students to become capable and strong human-beings, the human experience is not only about learning how to earn a living but it is about learning how to be live an informed and involved citizen, how to communicate effectively, how to understand other cultures and people, and how to think and reflect from the experience itself.
