Meanwhile, educational and economic meritocracy have merged, to the extent that intellectual achievements without economic added value are regarded as largely worthless.

Students have lost sight of the teleology, or final purpose, of the education system.7 When you’re in fifth grade, you know clearly that your goal is to get to sixth grade—and it goes like that up through twelfth grade, at which point you’ve spent the past four years of your life preparing for something called “college” along carefully defined

Those with a high-achieving mindset generally believe that their worth is dependent on their accomplishments. They tend to feel most valuable when they are performing well and are on track to achieving traditional success (praise, money, an impressive job title, a big house, social status, power, influence).