Srinagar, Oct. 18 -- Picture a senior IAS officer, someone who cleared one of the hardest examinations in the country and now administers public institutions, shouting abuse at a junior colleague. The words themselves are ugly enough. What unsettles me more is what the scene reveals: a person can be intellectually accomplished, professionally successful and socially powerful, and still be badly unprepared for life.

We have built an education system that teaches our children to compete, qualify and climb. We push them towards the highest marks, the most prestigious institutions and the toughest examinations. We celebrate their results, put their degrees before their names, and judge their success by the chairs they eventually occupy. Some...