An unwritten competition is running rampant in the very veins of our society. It’s not a marathon, but a frantic sprint where reaching the finish line is the only goal, not the joy of the run or the experience of the journey. The name of this race is ‘acquiring a certificate.’ We may not have even noticed when the noble concept of education became a hostage to this mere piece of paper. Today, we stand in a reality where “what grade did you get” or “what marks did you score” has become far more important than “how much did you learn.”
But this unhealthy race for superiority, this pursuit of credentials over knowledge—what are we truly losing in exchange? The list is long, and perhaps more terrifying than we can imagine.
The primary purpose of education is to spark a student’s curiosity, nurture their latent talents, and shape them into self-sufficient, thoughtful human beings. But our current system does not reward curiosity; it rewards rote memorization.
To the student who asks a question beyond the textbook, who revels in the joy of a new discovery, the system says, “Stop! That won’t be on the exam.” Consequently, we are producing a batch of skilled ‘examinees’ who know how to extract the maximum marks from a fixed syllabus. But in this process, the curious ‘learner’—who was meant to be a future innovator or philosopher—is silently dying. We are getting GPA-5s, but we are losing creativity.
When the primary goal becomes a good grade, the learning process becomes superficial and selective. Students do not “acquire knowledge”; they “collect information” for exams. Consequently, the ability to understand a subject deeply, establish interconnections between different fields, or analyze the complexity of an event is never developed.
We are creating a generation that might recite complex mathematical formulas from memory but has no idea where or why those formulas are applied in real life. They may write historical dates flawlessly in an exam, yet lack the ability to speak for even two minutes about the context or far-reaching impact of that historical event. We are losing the wisdom that teaches us to question the “why” and “how” behind the facts, not just the “what.”
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of this race for certificates is unveiled in the professional world. Every year, we produce thousands of graduates who possess first-class degrees but lack the corresponding skills.
The job market demands problem-solving abilities, leadership qualities, and practical knowledge. In response, our education system provides a stack of credentials. The result? A long procession of the “educated” unemployed, who are exhausted from carrying the weight of their certificates but lack the skills to put them to use. This not only creates personal frustration but also places a tremendous burden on the national economy. We are losing a competent workforce, and in return, gaining a generation of disillusioned youth armed only with certificates.
When the objective is to obtain a certificate at any cost, the “path” taken to get there becomes irrelevant; the “destination” is all that matters. This is the very mentality that gives birth to unethical practices like cheating in exams and question paper leaks. The student who learns it’s possible to get good results by “managing the system” instead of studying will seek that same short, dishonest path in every sphere of life.
Education is supposed to impart not just skills, but also ethics and values. But when the core philosophy of education itself becomes “winning the competition,” human virtues like honesty, empathy, and cooperation are never allowed to flourish. We are losing the very builders of a moral and principled society.
Acquiring knowledge is an inherently joyful process. There is immense pleasure in learning something new, in unraveling a mystery, in discovering one’s own capabilities. Our current system has methodically assassinated that joy.
The crushing burden of books piled on children, the inhumane routines of coaching centers, and the relentless pressure from parents solely for “good results”—all these have combined to turn the beautiful process of education into a nightmare. Students do not love their schools and colleges; they view them as prisons from which a “certificate” is their only ticket to freedom. We are teaching an entire generation that learning is not a source of delight, but merely a painful obligation.
In short, we have turned the factory designed to “build humans” into a factory that “manufactures robots.” We are creating a populace that is educated but not self-educated; people who possess information but not wisdom; who are certified but not skilled.
We are losing our future innovators, our ethical leaders, and our thoughtful citizens. We are losing the golden potential that could have made our nation truly great. This race for certificates may be giving us some shiny grades, but it is stealing our nation’s very soul. The time has come to stop this self-destructive race and begin the pursuit of true education, not just credentials.
