Attitude
What distinguishes between a good student and a mediocre one?
Many students act or behave the way they do because they believe so blindly in the negative opinions of others. The class name or number is merely a label. One is defeated not because he or she has failed but because of the self-fulfilling prophecy, in other words, self-belief, that he or she is the lousiest.
Truth be told, Mrs Teo was never from the best class. It is not something that I am very proud of but I take pride in who I am and what I am capable of, rather than what people THINK I am capable of, just because I was from the last class. When I was in Secondary Four, my class, which was the last during that year, took part in a Inter-class Debate. After all the preliminary rounds, the final two teams were revealed and my class was one of the teams. The other team was the best class. My teammates and I worked very, very hard to prepare for the final showdown. We were so bent on showing others what we were made of. We wanted to show the school that even though we were considered the lousiest students, we were capable of winning too.
No prizes for guessing correctly but yes, we WON the debate in style. I remember so vividly that victorious moment when the Principal presented the trophy to me. I realised at that point in time that I was on cloud nine not entirely because we won the best class but because I had proven to myself that I can be the best, IF I WANT TO, if I have the desire to succeed.
I took the road less travelled and went for the unconventional 3 yr Pre-U course instead of the usual 2 yr JC course because I wanted to make sure that I would get to university. I was not sure if I could handle the pace in JC so with my parents' encouragement, I took the slow but steady route to university. Yes I might have taken a year longer to secure my place in university but I still got there. Many of my friends who went to JC didnt even make it to university.
For sure, some of my students will tell me that I am just blogging this to "show off" and if that is really what you think then I am truly sad for you because it just means that you still not understand the moral of my personal story.
A good student, in my standards, points to one who is motivated and does not settle for second best. Aside from submitting punctual work and all, he or she is one who is not easily defeated by failures and has positive self belief. If you have tried but failed, you are still a good student to me.
So what is the difference?. The answer is only made up one word.
Attitude.
Many students act or behave the way they do because they believe so blindly in the negative opinions of others. The class name or number is merely a label. One is defeated not because he or she has failed but because of the self-fulfilling prophecy, in other words, self-belief, that he or she is the lousiest.
Truth be told, Mrs Teo was never from the best class. It is not something that I am very proud of but I take pride in who I am and what I am capable of, rather than what people THINK I am capable of, just because I was from the last class. When I was in Secondary Four, my class, which was the last during that year, took part in a Inter-class Debate. After all the preliminary rounds, the final two teams were revealed and my class was one of the teams. The other team was the best class. My teammates and I worked very, very hard to prepare for the final showdown. We were so bent on showing others what we were made of. We wanted to show the school that even though we were considered the lousiest students, we were capable of winning too.
No prizes for guessing correctly but yes, we WON the debate in style. I remember so vividly that victorious moment when the Principal presented the trophy to me. I realised at that point in time that I was on cloud nine not entirely because we won the best class but because I had proven to myself that I can be the best, IF I WANT TO, if I have the desire to succeed.
I took the road less travelled and went for the unconventional 3 yr Pre-U course instead of the usual 2 yr JC course because I wanted to make sure that I would get to university. I was not sure if I could handle the pace in JC so with my parents' encouragement, I took the slow but steady route to university. Yes I might have taken a year longer to secure my place in university but I still got there. Many of my friends who went to JC didnt even make it to university.
For sure, some of my students will tell me that I am just blogging this to "show off" and if that is really what you think then I am truly sad for you because it just means that you still not understand the moral of my personal story.
A good student, in my standards, points to one who is motivated and does not settle for second best. Aside from submitting punctual work and all, he or she is one who is not easily defeated by failures and has positive self belief. If you have tried but failed, you are still a good student to me.
So what is the difference?. The answer is only made up one word.
Attitude.
posted by sunshineliv @ 9:27 pm
1 comments
