Samuel E. Abrams: The Race to Nowhere in Education

The future isn’t yours to explore; it’s a ladder you must climb before you even understand why. We must ask ourselves: what are we racing toward? And more importantly, what are we leaving behind?

In the quiet hum of our recent conversation, the words of my guest stayed with me long after the recording ended. We discussed education—a perennial topic that feels both overanalyzed and strangely misunderstood. Yet this exchange was different. It unraveled not only systemic flaws but the emotional and cultural underpinnings that drive our collective obsession with education as a race to nowhere.

The concept of the "stadium effect" struck me deeply. Imagine a basketball game where the people in the first row stand up to see the play better. Soon, everyone is on their feet, craning for a view, and no one is any better off. Education systems around the world operate in much the same way. Countries, schools, and families compete endlessly, raising stakes and stress levels, yet the ultimate reward remains elusive.

I thought about Japan, where I currently live. Here, the competition for university admissions is staggering, starting not just in high school but cascading downward to middle school, elementary school, even preschool. There are tutoring centers on every block and advertisements touting their services plastered across train stations. Children as young as six walk past these posters daily, absorbing the unspoken message: this is what matters. The future isn’t yours to explore; it’s a ladder you must climb before you even understand why.

And yet, my guest pointed out something profound: this hyper-focus on measurable success distracts from the invisible. What truly shapes a child—relationships, curiosity, a sense of belonging—is often obscured by our fixation on rankings, test scores, and school prestige.

It reminded me of a walk I took one evening here in Japan. I passed two strikingly different scenes. On one side of the street, a tutoring center buzzed with children, heads bent over books, parents anxiously pacing outside. On the other, a late-night barbecue restaurant overflowed with people, eating, laughing, and connecting. It was jarring. One represented the frenzied individualism of the education race; the other, a rare glimpse of community and joy in a society increasingly atomized.

My guest argued that this atomization—this loss of connection—might be at the root of the problem. He spoke of ancient philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, who emphasized knowing oneself and cultivating a sound mind in a sound body. Today, however, we spend more time looking outward than inward, measuring ourselves against others, or worse, against a societal metric that keeps shifting.

This "other-directedness," as he called it, resonates deeply. In a world shaped by social media and relentless digital distractions, it’s no surprise that young people struggle to know who they are. Even in moments of success—getting into a top university, landing a coveted job—the happiness is fleeting. The goalpost moves, the competition stiffens, and the cycle continues.

What’s the alternative? I believe it begins with redefining what matters in education and in life. My guest spoke about Finland, where vocational education is respected and a social safety net ensures that all professions—be it a hairdresser, a mechanic, or a teacher—are valued. There, the pressure to attend an elite university doesn’t dominate the cultural psyche because success isn’t confined to one narrow path.

We also need to rethink the purpose of schooling. Instead of schools as gatekeepers to an exclusive future, they should be gardens for nurturing potential. As I often say, a good education system should have a wide entrance and a tight exit—allowing everyone to begin with opportunity but ensuring that true growth, effort, and passion determine the outcome.

This conversation left me hopeful but also unsettled. The issues in education mirror broader societal challenges: the pressure to perform, the erosion of community, and the growing sense that we are defined by our achievements rather than our connections or character.

As parents, educators, and sometimes policymakers, we must ask ourselves: what are we racing toward? And more importantly, what are we leaving behind? If we don’t pause to answer these questions, we risk perpetuating a system that exhausts our children without enriching their lives.

Let’s create a world where children grow, not because we weigh and measure them incessantly, but because we nourish them with what truly matters: relationships, curiosity, and the freedom to know themselves.

#Education #Parenting #GrowthMindset #YinuoLi

Watch the full interview on my youtube channel:?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7mUKv27fGA

Listen to full interview on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6hrKs4iBPTQvXGn6tgGmr2