I know this woman, she’s never seen a certification she didn’t want. It’s never been enough to love science or writing. To love martial arts. To love anything.
She needs to be certified, needs the degree, and needs someone to tell her she’s the expert now.
Lucky for her, you can always find someone to tell you.
But that doesn’t make it true.
“Yeah, I’m fifty-two, so what?
Hate all you want, but I’m smart, I’m so smart
And, and I’m in school
All these guys out here, uh, making money all these ways
And I’m spending mine to be smart
You know why?
‘Cause when I die, buddy
You know what’s gunna keep me warm?
That’s right, those degrees”
Kanye West, School Spirit Skit 2
The gold stars don’t make you the teacher. An ‘A’ doesn’t make you head of the class. Those titles require more. You don’t take a test to become a Sensei, you practice, show your skills, and people pick you. They fall in line behind you.
You can get certified in leadership but that doesn’t put you in charge.
You can take a class in improv, but you don’t “do” improv until you jump on stage.
You’ve got to do the work, not just read the manual.
The love of learning and the love of gold stars are different. Gold stars, accolades, attention, these are not self-sustaining.
We take kids at an early age and convince them that the gold star is the goal. They trade knowledge for grades, authentic thoughts for what the teacher wants to hear, and curiosity for “will this be on the test.”
They get certified and move along. Never knowing what really interested them, the subject or the stamps.
And then they become adults.
Graduation, commencement, those are the end rather than the beginning as intended.
We’ve got it backwards.
What we need is people who are proud of their work. Proud of what they’ve learned. The progress they’ve made. Gold star or not.
Are you better now having been through that chapter, do you see the world in a new way? Are you better now after taking that test, did it make you think? Did it push you, help you understand at a deeper level? Did you walk away having given your best?
If so, leave the accolades to the others.
We are after change, not cheers, not pats on the head, and certainly not gold stars.
