The Fastest Way to a Diploma
And the Slow Work of Becoming

Driving along Dutch highways these weeks, it’s hard to miss:

“The fastest way to your degree.” (in Dutch: “De snelste weg naar je diploma.”)

It’s a powerful promise. Who wouldn’t want speed, efficiency, a straight line from effort to reward?

But it also raises a quiet question: what is a diploma for?

Learning as a transaction

Seen one way, learning is a transaction. You invest time and money, and in return you receive a credential. The diploma becomes the product: the visible proof that you can move on to the next stage of your career.

There is truth in this. Diplomas do open doors. They are signals to employers, institutions, and society that you have reached a certain level. And it is understandable that in a world where people are busy and opportunities are unequal, faster access has its appeal.

But if we see learning only as a transaction, we risk missing its deeper value.

Learning as a transformation

Because real learning is also a transformation. It changes who you are, how you see, how you think, how you connect. It creates not just a certificate, but a new capacity to deal with the world.

And transformation is rarely the “fastest way.” It takes curiosity, reflection, practice, and setbacks. It requires slowing down, noticing, and trying again.

In one of my books, I described learning as understanding through slowing down. By pausing to observe, ourselves, others, and the systems we live in, we begin to see what was invisible before. This kind of understanding is not static knowledge, but a living capacity: the ability to navigate complexity, to welcome uncertainty, and to keep finding a way forward.

Why this distinction matters now

In today’s world, speed alone is not enough. Artificial intelligence can already provide quick answers. Processes can be automated. Information is available in seconds. If education becomes only about faster access to credentials, we risk producing people who have the diploma, but not the depth to thrive in complexity.

What makes us human, and what makes us valuable in this new landscape, is not how quickly we can acquire a piece of paper. It is how we develop the uniquely human abilities that machines cannot replace:

• the ability to make judgments about values,

• to care for others,

• to stay creative in uncertainty,

• and to hold space for difference.

These are not products of transaction. They are outcomes of transformation.

The gentle paradox

So yes, the diploma matters. It has practical function and social weight. But it is not enough on its own. A diploma without the transformation behind it is hollow, like a shell without the living creature inside.

This is the paradox we live with: the visible part of learning is the certificate, but the invisible part, slower, harder, and far more important, is the becoming of the person.

Closing

I don’t doubt the sincerity of organizations that want to make learning accessible and efficient. That has real value.

But we serve ourselves, and our future, best when we remember:

A diploma is only as strong as the journey that shaped the person holding it.

And that journey, the journey of transformation, cannot be rushed.