while closely monitoring and assisting academically-challenged students, as i have been for the past few months, i have realized just how much we all take our individual gifts and talents for granted.
as a student, i rarely ever studied. in fact, i don’t think i truly needed to study (in the way that i, like anyone who’s had to cram for an enormous 8am exam for a class you haven’t attended in over a week, now understand the practice) until i was in college. i was always able to finish my assignments quickly and with minimal instruction. consequently, i was placed in upper-level courses and surrounded by other students with similar aptitudes and work habits, and i never personally witnessed the difficulties some students faced day after day throughout their entire scholastic careers.
obviously, i knew that some kids were in different classes where they received poor grades and performed at a lower level, but i didn't understand their situations. ignorantly, i assumed that they were lazy or simply didn’t care about the consequences of their education (or lack thereof). with the exception of the special-ed students, i didn’t understand that all people are not capable of equivalent work.
in some ways, i am proud of this belief because at least it shows that i didn’t have any kind of snobbish opinion that i was naturally better than everyone else; it shows my basic believe of equality and commonality amongst people. but, of course, in other ways i realize that i was naively placing blame on students who have no control over their academic difficulties.
now, having worked with some of these “under-achieving” students and seeing them through an older and hopefully somewhat wiser perspective, i am beginning to understand what a struggle school can be for some. this isn’t to say that there aren’t students who are truly capable, but through a combination of laziness and poor attitude choose not to work to their potential – those certainly exist, as well. but, for the most part, the typical student who is struggling to earn D’s doesn’t experience their failure due to lack of effort. whether they have a disability to overcome, poor organizational skills, a lack of familial support and encouragement, or they just take a little bit longer to process information, they can try and try and still fall short of expectations.
are these kids stupid? are they facing certain failure in life after high school? absolutely not. these kids are musicians; they are funny; they are athletes; they have impressive social grace and candor; they are compassionate and loving. there is a world full of opportunites for people with their skills.
and this brings me back to my original point… so many of us take our talents for granted. i don’t think i ever realized how lucky i was to do well in school with very little effort. most people don’t appreciate those areas in which they excel. every one of us has qualities and skills we should be proud of, but instead we so often focus on our shortcomings that we forget to recognize all of the blessings we each have.
