Why Purpose Matters More Than Performance
31 March 2025 | Reflections on Parenting, Purposeful School Design, and Elite Education Mindsets
A Traditional Sunday with a New Perspective
It’s a quiet Sunday morning. I just dropped my children off at their swimming class.
Earlier, we had breakfast as a family at a traditional coffee shop near Gelang Patah—simple food, packed tables, slow fans spinning overhead. I love places like that. They feel real.
After breakfast, I took them to the wet market—pasar basah. Not a glossy grocer. Not a sanitized, air-conditioned aisle. A place where life happens in full color. Where fish scales glisten on the floor, aunties bargain over anchovies, and fresh greens are still wet with the morning harvest.
Why?
Because I want my kids to see both sides of the world.
Not just the convenience of supermarkets—but the community of the market.
Not just polished experiences—but places where people work hard, sweat, shout, and smile.
That’s life.
And just like exposing my kids to the wet market broadens their perspective, our schools must expose students to the real world—not shelter them from it.
As parents, we’re constantly curating experiences to shape how our children see the world—not just what they know, but how they understand it.
A Delayed Nap, A Precious Conversation
Yesterday evening, the kids had missed their naps because I was delayed at a funeral. That disrupted our usual flow. But ironically, it created space.
They were knocked out cold the moment we got into the car. I drove extremely slowly—on purpose—to stretch their sleep just a little longer throughout the journey.
And in that stolen pocket of quiet, my wife and I had one of those rare, deep conversations.
She’d spent the day at my sister’s place. While the kids were playing with their cousins, she was doing research. Not on assessment rubrics. Not on building layouts.
But on one central question we both wrestle with:
“What does it truly mean to design a future-ready school?”
Not just curriculum.
Not just pedagogy.
But the kind of humans we hope our learners will become.
The Real Definition of “Future-Ready”
“Future-ready” is a buzzword now. Everyone wants it stamped on their school’s brand or mission.
But since the pandemic, we’ve all learned something crucial:
The future doesn’t care about our predictions.
It only respects one trait—adaptability.
So the question is no longer:
“What should we teach?”
It’s:
“What compass are we giving our children so they can navigate uncertainty, complexity, and change?”
Because let’s be honest—most parents, when they talk about preparing for the “future,” they’re really talking about one thing: university.
But preparing students for top universities today requires more than academic excellence.
It requires internal excellence.
What Top Universities Are Really Looking For
We’ve studied how elite universities—Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, the Ivies—select their students.
And here’s the truth:
They already know your grades.
Transcripts. Predicted scores. Beautiful personal statements. All standard.
What they really want to know is:
- Why this subject?
- Why this university?
- Why now?
They don’t just evaluate what you know.
They study how you think.
Especially at places like Oxford or Cambridge, where the interview feels more like a Socratic dialogue than a test.
They’re watching:
- How do you respond when your assumptions are challenged?
- Can you think aloud?
- Are you teachable?
Purpose Over Performance
Elite institutions don’t just want top scorers.
They want:
- Intellectual spark – not just hard work, but insight.
- Genuine curiosity – learning that happens outside the syllabus.
- Resilience through failure – scars that shaped wisdom.
They’re not collecting trophies.
They’re curating thinkers, creators, and mission-carriers.
Because students with purpose don’t just survive university.
They shape it.
My Story: From Accountancy to Calling
I studied accountancy.
Not because I loved it—because it was safe.
I wasn’t on the Dean’s List. I never chased grades.
Truth is, I found most of it meaningless.
Memorize. Regurgitate. Repeat.
It felt like education was more about compliance than curiosity.
More about getting it “right” than asking why.
I was on the conveyor belt:
Get good grades. Land a stable job. Head to Singapore. Earn in SingDollar.
Settle into comfort.
But one moment disrupted everything.
In my final year, I helped a student who had missed 8 months of classes after an accident.
No reward. No recognition. Just the quiet decision to show up for someone.
And in that moment, something shifted.
For the first time, what I knew actually mattered to someone else.
That spark became a seed.
I didn’t want a job. I wanted a mission.
Entrepreneurship for Educators
Since then, I’ve redefined what it means to be an educator—and how to make this calling sustainable.
Because let’s be honest:
In Southeast Asia—and especially in our local context—educators are among the most undervalued professionals.
The salaries are low.
The expectations are high.
The dignity of the profession is fading.
And yet—we entrust them with shaping our next generation.
We must flip the narrative.
Educators should be viewed like doctors, architects, and accountants.
Experts. Builders. Professionals.
That’s why I’ve been developing blue ocean strategies to elevate their income and value—without sacrificing purpose.
Because if teachers don’t thrive, the whole education system collapses.
What We Can Learn from Jack Ma
Jack Ma’s Yungu School in China is doing something different. Something bold.
They’ve identified 7 outcomes every learner should grow into:
- Purpose and Agency (目标感和自主性): Cultivating self-driven learners with clarity of purpose and autonomy.
- Communication (沟通): Developing the ability to express, listen, and collaborate across diverse contexts.
- Global Citizenship (全球胜任力): Building empathy and competence to engage in global issues and multicultural settings.
- Critical and Systemic Thinking (思辨力及系统思维): Encouraging deep analysis and understanding of complex systems.
- Creativity (创造力): Fostering innovation and imagination to create original, impactful solutions.
- Entrepreneurship (企业家精神): Nurturing initiative, problem-solving, and adaptive leadership.
- Collaboration (协作): Promoting teamwork, shared responsibility, and co-creation.
They assess this through Foundational and Advanced Credit (FC/AC) systems—not rote exams.
It’s about mastery, not memory.
And Then, Elon Musk’s Astra Nova
Elon Musk’s school—formerly Ad Astra, now Astra Nova—blows up the old model entirely.
They don’t teach subjects.
They teach systems, dilemmas, and design.
Here’s what makes it radical:
- Problem-Centered Learning: Interdisciplinary inquiry through real-world challenges.
- Conundrums: Open-ended questions like:
- Should AI have rights? or Would you colonize Mars?
- No right answers—just thinking.
- No Grades. No Age Levels: Students progress by mastery.
- An 8-year-old might learn alongside a 13-year-old.
- Autonomy and Purpose: Learners chart their own paths. They follow curiosity, not compliance.
- Tool Creation Over Tool Use: They don’t just use apps. They learn to build them.
- Ethical and Systems-Level Thinking: Zooming out to assess long-term consequences and interdependencies.
- Collaborative Innovation: Design sprints. Team challenges. Startup-style problem-solving.
They’re not preparing kids for the world.
They’re preparing kids to shape the world.
Reflection > Resume
Elite universities now ask better questions than ever before:
- What’s a failure that shaped you?
- What problem do you want to solve?
- What are you learning outside school?
- What book or idea changed your thinking?
- Why this path?
They’re not impressed by what’s polished.
They’re moved by what’s authentic.
Now Flip the Mirror: What Should Teachers Be Asked?
If we expect students to be curious, courageous, and reflective—
then educators must go first.
So here’s my list for every teacher, principal, and founder:
- Why do you do what you do? (And please—not “for the title.”)
- What failure reshaped how you teach or lead?
- What are you learning right now that has nothing to do with your job title?
- What problem in education keeps you up at night—and what are you doing about it?
- If a student asked how to find their purpose, would your answer come from theory or experience?
Because you can’t lead students into a future you haven’t dared to explore yourself.
Leadership Isn’t the Front. It’s the Furnace.
We’ve misunderstood leadership.
It’s not about standing at the front giving orders.
It’s about standing in the furnace:
- Absorbing the heat.
- Modeling resilience.
- Holding the line when others waver.
If the teacher is uninspired, the classroom will be too.
If the school leader is unclear, the whole culture wobbles.
If the founder obsesses over profit, students will chase paychecks—not purpose.
Leaders go first.
Not just in execution—but in evolution.
Final Reflection: Speak Like a Mission, Not a Resume
The world doesn’t need more medal collectors.
It needs more mission carriers.
Our job isn’t to produce students who look good on paper.
It’s to raise humans who live with purpose.
That’s why the STARS Vision matters:
- Self-Awareness
- Teachability
- Attitude
- Relationships
- Significance
So let’s stop raising resume robots.
Let’s raise mission-driven humans.
Let our schools reflect the kind of future we actually want to see.
Because resumes are forgotten.
But missions outlive the people who carry them.
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