We live in an era where achieving average grades or performance is seen as deficient. Many students do poorly in school for a number of reasons, fortunately for them things like report cards, GPA and SAT scores don’t matter much in the real world.
There’s something I’ve come to understand through my Student Success Project: the pressure on children to achieve high levels of academic success is overriding the joy of education and making kids anxious and depressed.
AVERAGE IS A ROAD TO SUCCESS
In the pursuit of excellence, it seems that we’ve forgotten one simple thing: There’s nothing wrong with being average. Average means our kids have strengths in some areas and weaknesses in others.
It means there are going to be days when school is easy, and others where they have to dig in and work hard. Being average is not a guarantee of failure, and having above-average test scores or grades doesn’t guarantee success.
When you think about learning, we’ve created a system where kids have to learn things quickly. This has led to a belief that students need to be sorted and ranked according to ability. But that doesn’t hold true in other places throughout life.
It’s an incredibly ironic belief that straight-A students will automatically be more successful than their average counterparts.
However, this is what Average Students (AS) have to say about that.
1. THEY DO NOT WASTE TIME ON FRIVOLOUS STUDYING
AS do not like doing homework or studying for exams. Nobody really does, but they don’t feel the need to make it a priority. Sure, they get it done, and they learn enough to pass the tests, but they also spend time outside the library.
2. THEY FOCUS ON OTHER INTERESTS
AS are generally quite intelligent. They just don’t feel the need to learn only what their teachers tell them to learn. When they find something that interests them, they will put their all into it. They’ll learn enough about a subject to pass with a decent mark.
3. THEY FOLLOW THEIR PASSIONS
They don’t let school get in the way of their passions. AS graduate high school with a sigh of relief. When these students are able to finally enjoy their studies, something incredible happens: They become A students.
4. THEY ARE MORE RELAXED
AS students don’t always need to be the best or get top marks. Yes, they still freak out if they fail a test. But, they don’t set unrealistic expectations for themselves, and are often pretty happy with the results they get.
5. THEY ARE ENTREPRENEURIAL
Since they tend to follow their passion, AS often think outside the box. They see something that can be improved and they work towards doing so. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the practical, critical thinker is usually the one who isn’t afraid to go against the grain a bit.
6. THEY ARE REALISTIC
AS students are realistic about their goals, their accomplishments, and their abilities. They set goals that are attainable, and continue to set more goals once previous ones have been reached. They usually tend to downplay their accomplishments.
7. THEY ARE SELF-DEFINED
AS students are not defined by a grade given to them by a teacher who is a master at that specific subject. They define their accomplishments and worth by what it means to them. The grade doesn’t matter — the experience does.
That’s why we have to find a way to stay away from impossibly high bars and instead, to focus more on learning and individual progress, and less on where our kids rank compared to their peers.
To help our kids we need to see them as they truly are, not how we think they should be.
This column is by Ritchie Lucas, Creator of The Student Success Project and Think Factory Consulting. He can be reached at 305-788-4105 or email at ritchie@studentsuccessproject.com – and on Facebook @ The Student Success Project and YouTube @ The Student Success Project.
