Best Progress

It’s a different world when recognition goes to progress rather than achievements.

Best Progress Award 2009 recipients (from left to right):

Loh Zixu, Fiona Tan and Aileen Koh.

Today marks the 9th Anniversary of a modest award I started in 2001 to encourage architecture students at the National University of Singapore (NUS).  The award, funded from my consultancy work, goes to 3-5 students each year who make the “best progress” in their respective course of study, ie biggest jump in grades or marks.  The rules of the award does not rule out the best students, but interestingly they have never won this award because they have not actually progressed!

The idea for the Best Progress Award came through my son. Ten years ago, he received a Best Progress award from his school for Mandarin, a subject he never passed. That year he made a massive improvement (a doubling of marks I recall) but still below passing grade. Nevertheless, he achieved ‘better’ than those top students who were all staurated at close to perfection. The teachers and students clapped for him at assembly and he was very happy and proud of his award.

I believe that it is more important to encourage and foster a spirit of making progress than of achieving pinnicle perfection. Don’t get me wrong — high achievers and top brains are priceless and must be handled with care. But their recognition and reward come more naturally and are often already built into the value they bring. But we need to understand that life for the rest of us is not measured in GPA (or CAP in NUS).

Moreover, the rules of the game do change. Those who survive are those who are most adaptable to change [Dawwin].  That is, those who can make progress. The best are not necessarily the most adaptable. I remember a very good architecture student of mine who refused to draw in ink because he was extremely good in pencil.  Peers and examiners would pour oos and ahhs over his beautiful pencil drawings. But I was afraid that unless he breaks out to something else as well — something he would not be immediately good at — he may go the way of dinosaurs.

Look to make good progress.

Read Straits Times report on Tuesday 26 Jan 2010: Awards for most improved