Aquila lives up to her name: flies like a noble eagle, a strong-willed and determined 16 years old girl. Her name is on the top of the school ranking list at most of the subjects, apart from maths. She is very unhappy with his 16th place, out of 300.  She says: "I am desperate to be the best at maths, too. I work really hard to find out how I can perform better than that."

Indeed, she shows me her diary. It is full of duties from dawn to dusk. To dusk? No. She goes to sleep at one a.m., so busy with studying. She is a girl, drilled to be the best. The competition is very high, the students’ eyes are constantly on each others’ achievements, keep comparing themselves.

I wonder whether she enjoys her lessons, activities and life. Aquila and her classmates spend their days at school with studying, then tuition and homework until midnight. They perceive that school is not about learning but ranking and grades. They say what teachers want to hear, not what they think. Aquila complains that she often gets 2-3 hours of mindless homework task like copying texts. Most of the learning is about preparing for exams, cramming for academic knowledge.

Parents are just as eager as these zealous student. They spend an awful lot of money on tuition, then on university fees. They hope that with good education they can give a good start in life to their kids. Education has become a huge business.

However a degree is not sufficient anymore to get a good job. The job market has also become competitive. There are more and more graduates and less job offers. Degrees are losing their values and companies increasingly use another layer of criteria to pick their employees. They expect success skills like effective communication, critical thinking and problem solving. Formal education is necessary but not sufficient anymore.

There are even more reasons to shift expectations towards skills. Technology is rapidly changing, making existing occupations obsolete and calling for new ones. Our knowledge gets out-of-date overnight. Anyway, what is the point of storing knowledge in our brain that is available on hard discs or on the internet any time? Aquila is cramming logarithms and functions. Graduates offer certificates. Companies want problem solvers. They expect agility and adaptability, to learn fast from experience and to be comfortable with novelties.

Entrepreneurship and ability for independent work are also important. The days of a stable career are gone.  More and more companies offer temporary positions instead of hiring, or they outsource the tasks.

You need skills to survive and thrive in this changing environment. You need skills to change the environment. We lived hundred thousand years when creativity and resourcefulness were the imperative virtues. We lived ten thousand years when obedience was the desired trait. Now we need even more creative minds again. Unfortunately, the majority of educated people become consumers and followers. We need more creators than ever. Successful economies are based on their human resources more than on natural resources.

Your personal success is only half of the story. Our generation also worries about the future of our planet and many of us want to make a difference, not only money. We need to create a better world by solving problems like poverty, climate change or lack of the toilet roll. Imagine the desired future and work for it.