Beyond Academic Excellence

The pursuit of academic excellence no doubt has become the main goal of a lot of people out there, especially students of an institution and aspiring students.  Everyone wants to succeed in whatever he does and I feel that's one of the reasons people out there are so crazy about passing exams and coming out with good grades.
The question is does academic excellence guarantee the success of one's life? Permit me to act like the typical Nigerian I am and answer that question with another question. If academic excellence guarantees success, then why do we have so many graduates out there with 'fine' certificates, unemployed and with 'wasted' lifes?
I think that answers the question.
Actually, academic excellence doesn't guarantee one's success in life, it only boosts one's chances of succeeding and serves as a means of insurance.
We've become so obsessed with formal education that we don't have time to think about other important things. Even when we think about success, we feel graduating with a first class, second class upper or second class lower is what success is, when that actually doesn't guarantee a secured future. The obsession is so strong that we forget we'll spend just about four, five or six years in the higher institution and spend the remaining periods of our lifes outside the institution. Maybe if we think well about this, we'll be wiser than we are and think in the right direction.
The literal meaning of a higher institution is a place where learning takes place, subjects are studied in depth, and degrees are offered. The definition doesn't end there, it is also a place where  life begins, where you meet different kinds of people and face challenges of different types, where your future is determined and where you prepare for the world fully.
If that defines a higher institution, then why should we go there for just certificates? Why can't we use the opportunity of being in a big environment for things other than the certificate?
It is a very good thing to graduate high from the university but the best thing is to leave the university a first or second class graduate with another option of succeeding, other than the certificate just acquired. For one to be a person whose name would be remembered and be in the book of history, one has to go extra miles, one has to be different, one has to be innovative, one has to be special. You can't go to the university for example, read like everyone does, attend lectures like they do, do everything like they do and expect to come out and be the best, to live a  better life when there are people who weren't just reading but thinking, who weren't  just writing exams but acting, people who weren't just after a good certificate but a good life.
The way the world is today, your grades don't make you a rich or famous person but your difference, your innovation and your foresight does. The world's richest man and owner of Microsoft, Bill Gates, said 'I failed in some of my papers in school and my friend passed in all, now I'm the owner of Microsoft and he's an engineer in Microsoft.' That quote says a lot, the guy's academic excellence gave him a good life, he became an engineer in Microsoft and Bill Gates ability to stand out, his innovation and determination made him above all the 'brilliant heads' and he established where the supposed best people work, not just that, became and still is world's richest man. Now, who would you prefer to be, Bill Gates or his friend [we don't even know his name]. No disrespect to Bill Gates friend, he's already a success himself.
Another example is Juan Mata, a professional footballer who plays for Manchester United and a graduate of Journalism, he earns £150,000[#48,000,000] every week. I don't think as a professional journalist, he'd have earned that much, even if he did, he wouldn't have been half as famous.
We have many examples like those listed around us, we can find them mostly in the entertainment industry and every other sector.
Even if you read every time, you can think of ways, act upon them and try to secure your tomorrow. Being academically sound is good but the best academically are not always the best in life, even professors specialise in the teaching of knowledge, not it's use.
Success is beyond academic excellence, think, act and be determined. Make people's peak be your own beginning and you will forever live because your name will forever be in the books of history...

Koyum Kolade Afolabi [KK Awesome]
28th December, 2015.