Why Schools Fail Brilliant Minds

Education is all about teaching, but we have made testing the main domain.

Do you wonder why your child is brilliant at school but struggles in real life?
Do you also feel that degrees are no longer translating into meaningful work?

Bear with me, and you may find something worth pondering—about these questions and about education itself.

Education is perhaps the greatest tool God has given us, as humans, to survive in this uncanny world. It is not only a source of self-awareness; it transforms us from humans into human beings.

Education has evolved in remarkable ways. Early humans possessed knowledge, but there were no formal education systems. They knew things, but they did not categorise knowledge into disciplines such as mathematics and science, arts and humanities, or physical education.

Today, in the 21st century, we have countless formal disciplines of education.
Before education became so structured, there were teachers and students—but no formal schools, colleges, or universities, and no formal testing mechanisms.

Sadly, we became so obsessed with testing that Sir Ken Robinson (a global authority on education) had to say:

“Part of the problem is that the dominant culture of education has come to focus on not teaching and learning, but testing.”

Education is all about teaching, yet we have made testing the main domain.
The problem with the current education system is that it squanders creativity, individualism, and diversity in children. Children are not afraid of being wrong—but our testing systems punish them for it. This fear kills creativity and curiosity. One quote by Sir Ken Robinson that always fascinates me is:

“If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.”

Testing should play a diagnostic and supportive role—not serve as a ranking system for children’s intelligence. Most children lose this natural capacity for creativity by the time they become adults.

We make them afraid of being wrong. The objective of education should not be limited to producing employees or university professors alone.
Public education systems around the world were largely introduced in the 19th century to meet the needs of industrialisation. That is why they prioritised conformity, compliance, and testing, while sidelining creativity, curiosity, and divergence. Eventually, testing became the goal—not learning.

This reminds of the movie “Divergent”. If you are divergent or different from the standard, you are punished.

My takeaway is simple: if your child is not performing well at school due to standardized education, testing systems, or rigid criteria, it may simply mean that their strengths lie elsewhere. It does not mean they lack talent. It does not mean they are incapable. It only means their intelligence has not yet been identified or nurtured. They are “divergent”.

There is still hope. Like barren land waiting for rain, children are simply waiting for the right conditions to flourish.

Muhammad Rizwan