In the world of education, ‘excellence’ is thought of as synonymous
with ‘success’. One of the consequences of this thinking is that school and college education is structured around competition
and a need to categorize people by measurable ability. Moreover,
ambition is instilled as the basic motive for growth in life. Ambition is
encouraged, applauded and rewarded by the immediate family and
society at large. Thus, the pursuit of success becomes the primary motive
force in life. To me, this equivalence of success with excellence seems to
be a grave error, leaving us with little time, energy or inclination to
discover the deeper meaning of life.
Success is the construction of one’s self through the shaping of
demonstrable ability. It lies in the gap between ‘what one is’ and ‘what
one wishes to appear to be’. In this sense, it is the chasing of a mirage.
And like all mirages, once you come close enough, it turns out to be
not quite what one expected it to be, and so the eye casts further
into the future for another mirage to chase. How can this be considered
excellence?
Isn’t excellence an intrinsic quality recognizable not so much by
what one does but by how one is? Excellence is perhaps that which
emerges quite accidently, unsought, taking one by surprise at its
emergence. The specific manifestation of excellence may not be
preconceived and hence, sought after. Yet it is palpable and obvious
when you come in contact with it. Perhaps the quality that makes it
cognisable is the lack of gap between the being and appearance of
the person at that moment. It might be felt during a music concert
where the music emerges from a deeper place than the singer’s abilities, or perhaps it might be in the speaking of simple and authentic words.
Always it is accompanied by the ‘loss of one’s self ’, if only momentarily.
If excellence may not be pursued, then what is one’s motive force in
life? I think it is the observation of the gap between one’s being and
appearance—that ‘which is’ and that ‘which is thought’ and thereafter
sought. Observation of the gap reduces the gap. From the absence of the
gap, authenticity speaks.
Much of education is built around the shaping of one’s self around
an ideal. The pursuit of success is an additive process, building more
layers between one’s being and one’s appearance. The emergence of
excellence, on the other hand, seems to be the product of a subtractive
process, a stripping away, a paring down of the non-essentials. This
enables one’s appearance to be as close to, if not identical with, one’s
being, which is essentially quiet, not striving to become other than
what it is.
How then might we conceive of an educational process where a
human being is not sucked into this vortex of ‘becoming’? During the
many years of growing up, it seems essential to understand the futility of
constantly becoming someone in the eyes of the world. To help children
be free of this corrosive urge without retreating from the challenges of life
is thus an essential aspect of school education.