Star Trek the TV show was the product of an era of confident adulthood. If you judged us by how Hollywood portrays us now we live in a time of perpetual, sulky adolescence. In the 60s, true love and fame (which was a matter of popular respect, not of popularity) were the rewards for grown-ups who achieved their goals. These days true love and popularity are the goals.
Movies and TV shows often start out celebrating their main characters as outsiders and misfits, but by the end they've become the popular kids. This is achieved either by it turning out that the misfits and outsiders have super-powers---not literally, figuratively---they are able to do something wonderful that makes them more popular than the popular kids or by a redefining of popularity. You used to be the ideal, but now I am, so there.
What this would mean, if it's what's going on in the movie, is that Spock will turn out to be a good Starfleet officer not because he's smart, self-disciplined, logical, and open-minded, but because he's...different.
In other words, success and achievement aren't the rewards of hard-work. They're the natural outcome of you just being you.
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