The Superficials — When Learning Becomes a Performance
By MathSifu Moses
The First Anxiety Attack
For the first time, one of my Primary 5 students scored 78% for her end-of-year Maths exam.
To many, that’s a solid result.
But for her and her family, who were used to near-perfect scores, it was a crisis.
Panic set in.
The parents wanted answers.
They suggested new worksheets, stricter schedules, more homework, closer supervision, anything to restore the old numbers.
I said no.
Because the problem wasn’t in the teaching.
It was in the attachment to achievement.
This student didn’t need more work.
She needed to relearn why she was working at all.
Who Are The Superficials?
The Superficials are the students trapped in the endless chase for validation, the ones who learn for the grade, not from the grade.
They measure progress by marks, not mastery.
They compare themselves to classmates and see any dip as a personal failure.
Their self-worth rises and falls with each paper’s score.
They’re not lazy. They’re anxious.
They’re not unmotivated. They’re overstimulated.
But their effort is directed outward, toward performance, not understanding.
Teaching to the Test
Under constant pressure to perform, The Superficials learn to play the exam game.
They memorize formats, keywords, and marking rubrics like sacred formulas:
“Two marks mean two steps.”
“Four lines mean four points.”
These ideas sound logical but are ultimately hollow.
They turn thinking into template-following.
Their revision is full of question drills but empty of meaning.
If a topic doesn’t appear on the paper, they stop caring about it.
When something changes slightly, their entire framework collapses.
They become efficient in answering, but incapable of adapting.
The Pursuit of Prestige
When these students and their families seek tuition, they often chase brands, “the best centre,” “the top achievers,” “the guaranteed A1 program.”
But “best” is subjective.
Is it high averages?
Big class sizes?
Fancy worksheets?
Or is it the ability to teach a child to think for themselves?
Even the strongest tuition program can fail a student who’s studying only to avoid fear.
Until the reason for learning changes, every extra worksheet simply tightens the loop of anxiety.
Superficial Mastery: The Dopamine Trap
Every time The Superficials score well by memorizing, they get a hit of cheap dopamine, short-lived satisfaction without real understanding.
This Superficial Mastery becomes addictive.
They start believing success can be hacked.
“Just study smarter, not harder.”
“Just spot topics and memorise key phrases.”
But this illusion erodes deeper learning muscles, patience, focus, resilience.
And when these muscles weaken, a predictable cycle begins:
They face a tough, unfamiliar problem.
They get frustrated and shut down.
Confidence collapses; anxiety rises.
They avoid deep study altogether, or fake calm and pretend it’s fine.
The cycle repeats.
Eventually, two outcomes emerge:
They slow down drastically, falling into “The Slows” category.
Or they give up entirely, convinced they’re not cut out for it.
How Tutors Can Help
Tutoring The Superficials is one of the hardest tasks, not because they’re weak, but because their motivation is misplaced.
They don’t need more speed.
They need meaning.
That’s why 1-to-1 tutoring works best here, but only if the tutor is patient, calm, and reflective.
The tutor’s role isn’t to push more drills, but to:
reignite curiosity,
connect math back to real-world logic,
normalize mistakes as part of growth, and
rebuild the student’s internal confidence brick by brick.
Teaching The Superficials is less about content and more about perspective.
What Parents Can Do
Parents play a bigger role here than they realize.
Grades shouldn’t be the only language of encouragement at home.
Here’s what helps:
Praise effort and clarity, not rank.
Model calmness. If the child sees panic every time results dip, they internalize fear.
Broaden the meaning of success. Show them how learning connects to life beyond exams.
Avoid tuition-hopping. Frequent changes signal instability and reinforce the idea that the problem is external.
When the home becomes a calm base, tuition can finally become constructive, not corrective.
Final Thoughts
The Superficials aren’t broken. They’re simply afraid.
Afraid of falling behind, losing status, or disappointing others.
But when learning becomes a race for approval, curiosity dies.
The antidote isn’t more tuition hours.
It’s reconnection. To meaning, to curiosity, and to the quiet joy of understanding something new.
When a student learns to think beyond grades, marks follow naturally.
When a parent learns to breathe through the ups and downs, the child starts breathing too.
So if your child has become too focused on “how many marks,”
maybe it’s time to ask instead,
"how much meaning?"
~ MathSifu Moses