Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, “The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.” This simply makes clear the fact, that “there is no elevator to success”, ipso facto, hard work must be done before one reaches the destination of success. Unfortunately, the understanding of this principle of climbing the stairs to get to success has been robbed from Those Students in college.
Those Students register courses feverishly before the semester begins, but it is sad to note, that when classes begin, their woes follow like a blizzard. The principle of studying hard to make a good grade becomes so difficult to achieve, and the excitement with which they enter the classroom on the first day waxes cold.Their attitudes change, their motivations sublimate, and their ambitions wane and fade off like the sight of an airplane fading into the clouds.
First, they cut classes and excuses become the welcome address that sets off their woes. Their professors suffer tons of excuses, those that sound like true excuses, those that are true excuses, and those excuses that really have no constructions of credibility in their lines—absolute lies.But the professors keep their mute and observe them because they already know those types of Those Students. Do you think such students have any accomplishments to make?
Professors grade assignments students present, and assignments are based on lessons taught in class. However, Those Students never show up for class, they come once in a blue moon. They never listen to anything the professor teaches because of their truancy. Sometimes they will plead with their professors to give them the chance to write assignments they have missed, yet no matter how many chances they are given, they are still haunted by their woes even more—they are never able to turn in their assignments. Is it not true that they have been robbed of the concept of how to achieve success?
It is funny what Those Students do when they come to class. When the professor starts teaching, they come in late for class. Besides, their woes continue with their obsession with their phones—Thanks to technology. They text and text and text until the lesson is over. When an assignment is given, they come back to the professor to complain hopelessly, “I did not understand the lesson, Professor”
Matters get even worse when in addition to texting on their phones, they engage other colleagues in conversations that distract the professor and other students in the class. When the professor warns such students, they reply back with negative attitudes. Sometimes it gets so serious, some students get so angry that the professor has asked them to leave the class if they would not stop infringing upon the liberty of others.
Soon, the semester comes to an end, and final grades are due. Those students turn out to be those students who drop their classes, those who get failing grades, or those who spent on tuition but got nothing in return.
Success cannot be reached by a short cut, it cannot be reached by the elevator. In fact, it is not gained on a silver platter. Professors have earned Bachelor’s Degrees, Master’s Degrees, Doctoral Degrees and many academic achievements. They toiled upward in the night while some were asleep. They were highly determined and highly motivated by the thirst to achieve their set goals. Professors have earned their positions as teachers through hard work. They were once students who worked so hard, but they were not like Those Students. They never slept, but burned the midnight oil until they threw their caps in the air.
What is going on with Those Students? Are their situations hopeless? Of course nay! Those Students are not backward students. They usually show excellent performance if they really want to. They make the “A” grades if they regularly attend classes. They are first class students if they decide to turn over a new leaf. Unfortunately, as they burn with full flames of youthful exuberance they do not realize it until they get past the stage. Alas! It is too late.
By Daniel B. Dickson PhD
