Excellence!

Long ages ago I studied the classics, that would be Greek and Roman classics with a gray haired, cherubic Meyer Reinhold. He had, as I learned some months or a year further on, a national reputation as a classical scholar. I should probably use a capital 's', Scholar. I remember and can see and hear to this present second, him slapping his desk with his palm, almost shouting,"Arete! Excellence, the Greek ideal."

Today's radio browsing brought up the Tandaway Peebles ongoing short story in that other city I don't like to visit. Plus stupid classroom experiments in utopian progressive educational theory and practice. Like the gilted 'self esteem'.

Here' a question. How does once achieve excellence in 'self esteem'?

More: He's was more renowned than I knew just several sentences ago.