By Mobeen Arshad
Education should be about liberation not competition. But in our academic culture, it often feels like the only students who matter are those at the top of the merit list. In this article, I want to highlight a forgotten majority: the average and below-average students who continue to show up, struggle, and slowly grow yet are rarely celebrated for their efforts.
These students often face invisible battles from financial pressure and family expectations to internalized self-doubt. Our education system, unfortunately, tends to define them permanently by their past scores rather than their present growth. This mindset not only shatters confidence but also causes long-term emotional and psychological harm. Studies by psychologists show that constant academic comparison contributes significantly to anxiety, low self-worth, and burnout in students, especially when validation is tied only to grades.
I believe we must redefine merit. A student who participates in debates, confidently presents in conferences, helps peers, or shows ethical maturity deserves to be valued even if their grades do not reflect traditional “excellence.” We must begin to include non-academic attributes like creativity, leadership, resilience, and social involvement in our evaluation systems.
Philosopher Paulo Freire, in his concept of liberation education, warned us against the “banking model” of learning where students are treated like empty containers to be filled and graded. Similarly, Denis Goulet, a pioneer in development ethics, believed that education must uplift human dignity and remove structural barriers. Our current exam-obsessed culture does the opposite: it labels, ranks, and restricts. It judges a student only through present numbers, ignoring context, growth, or potential….
We also lack clear, fair marking criteria. Many students are never told how they were assessed and their gradual improvement is rarely acknowledged. We need transparent rubrics that include effort, progress, and participation, not just performance in timed exams.
In a society where academic validation often determines a person’s voice, influence, and even self-worth, this narrow view of success is dangerous. It silences capable minds and crushes creativity. We are raising students to run the same race, on the same track, with no room for difference, delay, or alternative brilliance.
This article aims to open up that conversation to push for a more humane, ethical, and liberating education system where no student is left behind simply because they bloomed later.
BS philosophy (Punjab University Lahore)
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