Mediocre

I remained silent for a moment because I felt slightly uneasy with my friend’s conclusion.

“You may be right, my friend.” I hesitated a bit, “But the context is slightly different between helping borderline students and cultivating brilliant ones.”

“Yes…?” My friend looked puzzled.

“We try to help borderline students as undergraduates, and our aim is to make sure they achieve a certain minimal standard when they come out and practice – although, yes, I agree, the most reliable way of ensuring the standard of our graduate is to eliminate everyone who does not perform well.” I explained, “But top students are a different lot. More often than not we can only identify them after they graduated – sometimes a few years later. Medical school is not in the position to cultivate them. Moreover, if we try to identify these high flyers at a very early stage, it is likely we put our money on the wrong ones and inadvertently jeopardize the growth and development of true future leaders.”

“Alas, you may be right,” L nodded, “At the end of the day, we have to agree with Immanuel Kant. Genius doesn’t need education, and idiots could not be educated; a teacher should therefore put most of their effort on mediocre students!”