The most successful students become university professors

Published: Sunday, 01 March 2009

When kids are in diapers, their parents enroll them into primary school. If all goes right, the right primary school could mean the right high school.

No room for error though, so the kids are put in piano, Japanese, speech and drama, voice, painting, soccer, violin, tennis, dancing and deportment classes.

 

They got in? Great job!

 

Right, high school time. Marching band, United Nations community-building initiatives, maths club, speaking competitions, official school photographer, Physics Olympiads preparations, cheerleading, science fairs, bake fairs, school plays, volunteer work, president of the Student Representatives, school magazine editor and as many competitions as you can enter. Study a couple of hours each day. Graduate valedictorian. Have they done enough to get into a good university??

 

They got in? Great job!

 

…

 

Childhood is now a protracted process of university entrance. The most successful undergrads go on and do their masters. The most successful masters students go on to do their PhD. The most successful PhD students go on to become university professors.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts

    Spoke in Hong Kong at the the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) on 9 July.  The WAGGGS is the largest voluntary organisation...

  • Where are you not looking?

    You’ve brainstormed and tried all the keywords that you could think of in Google, you’ve asked Jeeves, you’ve spoken to your lecturers and you’ve...

  • Robogals Asia Pacific SINE 2014

    Robogals Asia Pacific SINE Perth 2014.  120 participants from Australia, Philippines, Japan, New Zealand and China.  Our biggest SINE to date! SINE...

  • The Impostor Syndrome

    I first learnt about the impostor syndrome at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing in 2011.  A Stanford student asked a question...

  • What's in a name?

    From August 2009 to August 2011, I was the "Founder and Director of Robogals Global".  Before that, my title was "Founder", and we hadn't created...

  • A Summer at Engineers Australia

    I saw on Facebook that Engineers Australia Victoria were moving into new premises.  I saw the national CEO Steve Durkin at an event.  He said I was...

  • Don’t forget your notebook

    They’re cheap.  They don’t always look very pretty.  You can even get some with a yellow hue!  (And even if you don’t, but you leave them for too long,...

  • Aurukun Advance Queensland

    As part of my Advance Queensland Hot Desq tenure, I was granted the unique opportunity to visit a remote Aboriginal community, Aurukun, to encourage kids into...

  • 10 Years Young Australian of the Year

    On this day, 10 years ago, I was named the "Young Australian of the Year", by the Prime Minister of Australia, in front of Parliament House, on...

  • Complaining is silly

    Either act, or forget. Talking about someone else behind their back makes no difference to them, and all the difference to you. Your friends have to...