The scholar's stone.

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In HKUST, there is a concrete block right in the middle of the path of the path between the dorm and the academic building. It's called the scholar's stone. Student-myths claim if a student steps on it, he would either fail at his studies or become dean-listed (in direct translation, this also means crazy listed).
While I'm not one for the superstitious beliefs, I believe that it was a special rock because it was a bump in the road.
Either way though, I thought it was beyond the boundaries of conventional standards. I thought if I failed at something, that wouldn't be a bad thing, and if I did brilliantly, then that was something special too.

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"In the society where mediocrity is too often a standard and too often rewarded, there is intense fascination with men who detest mediocrity who refuse to define themselves in conventional terms and who seek to transcend traditionally recognized human capabilities."
Not-my-quote//