ALTHOUGH our toothless education watchdog continue to disapprove of ranking universities, unofficial rankings are proliferating, and one of the latest frankly ranks universities in terms of their number of "distinguished alumni."

Distinguished alumni refer to the so-called political elites, billionaires, members of the Academy of Sciences, and members of the Academy of Engineering.

This year Tsinghua University tops the alumni fortune list by having turned out 84 billionaires with combined assets of 300 billion yuan (US$47 billion), surpassing previous champion Beijing University (Beida), whose billionaires number 82.

It is hard to imagine that these same schools were once associated with a long list of revolutionaries and great scholars, among them Chen Duxiu (1879-1942), Li Dazhao (1889-1927), and Wang Guowei (1877-1927).

Chen, a scholar at Beida and one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, died in poverty and neglect after becoming skeptical of revolutionary principles.

Li, chief librarian and a professor at Beida, as well as a founder of the Chinese Communist Party, was executed for "colluding with Soviet Union."

Wang, one of the most distinguished classics scholars at Tsinghua, drowned himself in a lake after becoming disillusioned with China since the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Young Mao Zedong once worked at the Beida Library as a filer of books, earning eight yuan a month and sharing his room with seven roommates. He was drawn to Beida because Chen and Li worked there.

None of these three scholars had amassed a huge fortune in their time, but they shine brilliantly next to the alumni billionaires today - especially knowing how Fortune today rewards the greedy and the ruthless.

If anything, the ranking of billionaire alumni as an indicator of a university's distinction is a mockery of education in its highest sense.

Confucius' Great Learning, one of the first primers to be memorized by beginners in ancient China, states, "What the Great Learning teaches is to illustrate illustrious virtue, to renovate the people, and to rest in the highest excellence."

Even in the West, etymologically, to educate is to lead, or bring up a child physically or mentally. It was not a coincidence that for a long time, education was the preserve of the church.

Less than 200 years ago, English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) still believed that "To prepare us for complete living is the function which education has to discharge."

As we can see from numerous instances today, education, whether in the East or West, has effectively degenerated into a sort of professional training provider.

Sadly, many schools even bungle that job.

In their "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything," authors Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica point out that today's educational systems promote only certain types of learning and recognize only certain types of intelligence and creativity.

Stifled creativity

The authors believe that finding one's Element is essential to happiness, fulfillment and success.

"The Element" is the intersection of passion and talent and requires "aptitude and passion," plus the right "attitude and opportunity."

"We are all born with tremendous natural capacities ... we lose touch with many of them as we spend more time in the world," the book observes.

The authors use stories of artists, scientists, athletes and musicians to support their assertion.

For instance, young Briton Gillian Lynne (1926-) had trouble sitting still and staying focused in class, and her behavior was disruptive in the eyes of the school administrator.

She learned to dance at the suggestion of a psychologist, and became one of the greatest ballerinas of her time. When Gillian discovered dance, she entered the Element.

When one is in their Element, he or she is connected with their sense of self, purpose and well-being.

Unfortunately, the current education system is not designed in a way that encourages creativity and finding one's Element.

The authors cite three reasons.

First, educational systems overemphasize critical thinking and reasoning.

Second, schools feature a "hierarchy of subjects." Mathematics, sciences and languages rank higher than the humanities.

Third, schools rely heavily on assessment tools such as standardized tests. The result is that educational systems everywhere work within a narrow definition of intelligence and capacity.

Although this distorted perception of education originated in the West, it has been so eagerly and successfully emulated here that today China is confronted with a veritable education crisis.

The authors fail to explain how our educational facilities can renew their sense of purpose. That failure lies in the authors' failure to see beyond success and personal happiness. Their vision is probably limited by their perception of education as a business.

And from a business perspective, the aforementioned Chen, Li, and Wang are all eminent failures.

Beyond success

When success becomes restricted to individuals, and is conceived out of the larger context of idealism, mission, nation, or societal contribution, it easily becomes synonymous with money, official titles, or academic titles.

Lost Chinese educators can always turn to Confucius for enlightenment, or for the art of prioritizing.

As Confucius observed, "Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning."

In other words, the question of Why should take precedence over How, and development of a moral compass should precede the development of intelligence. When not guided by morality, intelligence is dangerous.

When moral consideration becomes irrelevant, we see physicists who build their fame on developing weapons of mass destruction, chemists who devise new means to plunder and pollute the earth, and economists who thrive on designing new financial derivatives.

When a school has betrayed its true mission, it can smugly take pride in creating many billionaires and bureaucrats.

Our sensitivity to soul-deadening metrics often dulls our perception of things more relevant to life.

Only when our eyes are no longer blinded by the dazzle of success will we be sensitive to the truly important things: family, nation, state, nature.

One trap about the cult of success is that after all, there are no short cuts or quick fixes in life.

As is observed in Ecclesiastes, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skills; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

Western education can be redeemed by a return to its spiritual wellspring.

As the authors observe, "Given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed - it needs to be transformed."