Doesn’t work for most in a large pool. If you’re motivated by competitiveness and know that second-best in your school is the best you can hope for, why even bother?
I can see that. However, I am especially interested in the education of the person who is the best in the school. So much more progress is made by the top 0.1% intellectual elite.
A valid point in high school, where there are few enough very smart people that each has enough hope of being the best that it’s worth competing. But if you’re the top student in your high school and go to a college where you have a chance of being the top student, odds are you have gone to the wrong college rather than that you’re just that awesome. If you’re usually the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room, and all that. And if you’re mainly motivated by competition, the small pond is quite tempting.
Doesn’t work for most in a large pool. If you’re motivated by competitiveness and know that second-best in your school is the best you can hope for, why even bother?
I can see that. However, I am especially interested in the education of the person who is the best in the school. So much more progress is made by the top 0.1% intellectual elite.
A valid point in high school, where there are few enough very smart people that each has enough hope of being the best that it’s worth competing. But if you’re the top student in your high school and go to a college where you have a chance of being the top student, odds are you have gone to the wrong college rather than that you’re just that awesome. If you’re usually the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room, and all that. And if you’re mainly motivated by competition, the small pond is quite tempting.