Hi Kids and I sincerely hope you rested your brain well enough as much as you may have enjoyed every bit of your Easter break. Now that academic activities are resuming, I can only wish you luck. You will now have to cast off all the enjoyments and relaxations of the holiday period and get to work early enough. Please note that it will not be out of order to spend the first few days now that you are back in school to still engage in light non-strictly academic activities with your friends but don’t let it stretch. Cut short every act of frivolities and settle down with your books in earnest. You still have years ahead of you to play.
The much I know is that of the three terms that constitute an academic year, you have successfully scaled the hurdles of the first two. I might not know your levels of performances in those previous two terms but whatever these might be, I tell you, you can do much better. About the only holy competition in life is the one with your past- to break off or be better, for life is best lived leaping forward and not to be stagnant.
To be candid, the third term is such a period you will need to work harder and be more active academically than being involved in extra-curricular activities. My assertion is premised on the fact that this is your last term in your current class. The next exam you will be writing will determine how that you will be promoted to the next class or not or as a leading student or laggard. I do know that continuous assessment will be deployed to determining your overall performance, guess what? The third term offers you the great opportunity to add to whatever your previous performance was as you prepare to bid your current level farewell. How do I mean?
· Your last reports sheet may have been enveloped, sealed and first delivered to your parents. By now, you should have gone through the reports yourself. If your parents had reviewed the reports with you, fine but if not, ensure that you take the pain to go through your scripts and the summarised reports.
· On each of the subjects you undertook last term, what was your position in your class or your score relative to the class aggregation?
· If you were on top of the class, be sure the top is reserved only for those who deserve to be there and not for everyone but for anyone who will bother to give the top the required efforts. In other words, to retain that top spot, you must need to double your efforts this term.
· In case you score last term was average, you will need to triple your efforts to move beyond the level of being an average student. Life does not work in favour of those who are average because such will only end up as support to those at the top. Move yourself out of the cycle of being called an average student because of your average performance. If someone else can score a higher mark, you too can, all you need is that concentration and additional efforts. You must always have this at the back of your mind that when you have tried at the best possible level and all you still get is an average score, life has a way of compensating efforts and dutifulness. If you are however emerging average because you are lazy and playful, life will rather compensate your playfulness appropriately.
· If you are performing at the lower level of the class, do not fret but be courageous. Know precisely the factors behind your low performance, discuss some with your teachers and trusted seniors aside from your parents. Ensure that you build up your grades. Be happy and never compare yourself with anyone.
· As you resume back in school, remember that your parents would have tried to ensure that you have everything possible but you truly would not need the availability of everything to make the best so make do with what you have. The truth about life and living is that the best of life is often recorded in hardship hence; make do with what you have to generate the best for yourself. That is the spirit of entrepreneuring. That is also the spirit of an achiever and the spirit of a kid that will be great in destiny. Never allow the barriers you may face this term debar you from being better and emerging best.
· Now that you are back in school, you have only one competitor and that is your past, to be better so stop competing with that other fellow student who is always collecting the prizes and attracting the attentions of everyone. You have only one focus and that is your books, to study them and not just read. You have only one assignment and that is to learn and become knowledgeable and not mere crammer. Much later in years, all that you are today studying in the classroom and books will become the realities when you will be expected to utilise all that you are learning today. Learning by heart today for knowledge will help you excel and not by remembering all you have crammed.
Let’s meet again next week on this page. Good luck.