To do the bare minimum, or to go above and beyond?

This question pertains to education. I think at most institutions, you can get pretty far by doing the bare minimum. So long as you dot your i’s and cross your t’s by turning in all your assignments on time, and answering all the questions that’s required in a satisfactory manner. You can get far with that. But is that the best strategy to take? (This is a rhetorical question by the way)

To dive a little deeper, I think this question needs to be reframed. To do the bare minimum or to go above and beyond is more of a question of do I want short-term gain or take the time to invest in the future? There’s no right or wrong way in this sense. I’m not trying to glorify one method over the other because both are equally valid approaches to school–it just depends on what you want to get out of it. After all, there are more important things in life than your education and your vocation.

However, I do feel that I am an-above-and-beyond type of student. I go out of my way to do more than is necessary because I value the intellectual pursuit and growth. I take pride in the grind, so to speak. But that has not always played toward my advantage. Sometimes, I find myself lagging behind trying to perfect a skill, a knowledge, or a concept that someone else would’ve just half-assed and scraped a pass on, which is perfectly acceptable in our current education system. It’s not a comfortable feeling to feel like one is behind, especially if that is coupled with a perception that more effort is put in. Is this why school is beginning to lose its luster?

I think this question ties nicely with the growing competitiveness of college admissions as well. Are we at risk as a society of a selection bias where we chose only those people who have beautified their applications by taking the bare minimum approach? Are we selecting the best candidates for the job? In a society that idolizes child prodigies and precocious talents, how do we identify masters who have invested the time to hone their craft–who have taken the risks and grown from the failures associated with those risks? These are generally not the type of people that elite institutions chose to be their students.