This week’s FOCUS takes a look at last week’s Miss NUR competition. The event labelled the Rector Excellence Award is not (believe it or not) just about the beauty pageant. It is also about acknowledging the best student association, the best musician and the best campus initiator.

The day is supposed to be a celebration of excellence. And though this year didn’t live up to expectations, it got me thinking about the importance of singling out the excellent.
As far as education is concerned, every country that desires to be developed has an elite educational system, aimed at taking the most gifted students and giving them the best intellectual training possible.

There have been people who have objected to the rationale behind this reasoning. Why, they ask, should some get special treatment?

In return they should be asked if mediocrity is a price worth paying for social equality. In other words, is it better that we are all the same or that some excel where others fall behind?

If we want to be the best, we need the best people to get us there. Only when we enhance the best will we gain the highest quality in science, law, medicine and the arts.

So while we lament the poor quality of our beauty queens let us applaud the achievements of those who deserve more attention than they have as yet received.

Ends