We have turned excellence into a performance—an annual festival of certificates, medals, and hashtags.
We reward the outcome, not the journey; the appearance, not the essence.
Every semester, students stand on stage with golden ribbons and the same rehearsed smile.
But what if we asked one simple question: “Excellence in what?”
Is it excellence of grades—or excellence of understanding?
Excellence of obedience—or of curiosity?
Do we celebrate those who memorize faster… or those who think deeper?
A 2023 study by the Brookings Institution revealed that 82% of high-performing students in the Gulf region link success solely to grades, while less than 18% associate it with creativity, independence, or critical thinking.
We have raised a generation obsessed with “results,” but allergic to “risk.”
Students now fear the question more than failure, and parents panic at a B grade as if it were a diagnosis.
We created a market of excellence—a commercial industry of trophies, ranks, and artificial applause.
The student becomes a project of perfection, not a project of meaning.
He learns how to impress… not how to improve.
The tragedy is that our systems confuse discipline with excellence—as if silence equals brilliance, and neat handwriting proves depth.
Many students learn to speak the “language of excellence” without ever tasting its soul.
They rehearse ambition, mimic success, and decorate their résumés… but remain empty of intellectual hunger.
So we must ask: Are we raising performers or thinkers?
Award collectors or idea creators?
Excellence that doesn’t disturb comfort zones… is mediocrity in disguise.
True excellence is not being better than others—it’s being different from what you were yesterday.
In Finland’s education system, students who demonstrate initiative or creative problem-solving are rewarded more than those who simply achieve top marks.
Because they understand: a grade measures a skill, not a soul.
Here, however, we drown in numbers and forget the person behind them.
We celebrate the final score, ignoring the invisible journey—the mistakes, the tears, the spark that led to the discovery.
Parents upload the report card online, while their children quietly wonder: “Do they love me… or my grades?”
In 2024, the UNESCO Global Education Report warned of the “psychological exhaustion of high-achieving youth,” noting that perfectionism and comparison now rank among the top causes of teenage anxiety.
When the applause fades, what remains?
A generation that knows how to win—but not how to fail gracefully.
So, dear educators, let us redefine excellence before it devours us.
Let us teach students that to question is excellence, that to doubt is growth, that to create is success.
Because medals rust, certificates fade, and rankings vanish…
But the mind that keeps asking—keeps shining.
