It is not by an all-round education or by catholicity of interests that first-rate eminence is achieved: it is achieved by concentration and a certain narrowness both emotional and intellectual. In a world where all young people have the same environment, and the same standards presented for their acceptance, this does not easily happen. Diversity is necessary to distinction, and uniformity in education tends to produce mediocrity in adult life. We must therefore expect that individual eminence will be rarer in the future than it has been in the past
Source: "FATHER" [From: Mortals and Others: Bertrand Russell's American Essays, 1931-1935, v.1 (1975)]
More info.: https://russell-j.com/FATHER.HTM