The Sunday News
Rejoice Moyo
THE issue of students failing is a thorn in the flesh for many learners, parents and guardians as well as teachers the world over. It is unfortunate that some learners become so frustrated with failure and end up of committing suicide upon receiving unfavourable results. The impact of failure can also cause lasting damages to self-esteem and that can influence an entire lifetime.
Parents also play a role towards student failure. Parents have become unsupportive both psychologically, socially as well as financially. Trust academy would like to encourage parents and guardians to only register their children in registered institutions and take time to know more about the background of the institution or even private tutors they choose to send their children to.
Teachers also contribute to student failure. Students want teachers who are approachable and encourage open communication. Students also want a teacher who understands and takes time to find out how they want to be taught.
As Trust Academy High school, we believe that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. We have come up with the following ways to better equip our learners and help them combat failure and get positioned for success.
Lack of preparation
Many teenagers are not challenged and have a lazy mindset, which leads to their inability to see the need for preparation. Consequently, they feel things should be done for them or given to them with little effort on their part. Unfortunately, some parents and guardians are very guilty of allowing this to happen and end up producing failures. When parents and teachers do not challenge them in this area, they set them up for failure as they plan to transition into post-secondary education.
Too many distractions and lack of focus.
Social media, smartphones, television have become distractions for learners as they spend most of their productive time on these. These coupled by teenage stresses and homework are some of the factors that influence learners to lose focus. Trust Academy encourages parents to engage the youth of how to create a balance between their social life and education so that they are well prepared for post-secondary educational challenges. We also encourage smartphones to be used productively for research projects and no use of phones during lesson time.
Poor time management/ Procrastination
Managing time effectively is critical to a student’s ability to balance multiple responsibilities that come with being in school. It is important for students to learn this skill prior to attending college and getting into the job market sooner than later. That way they learn from their failures in a less costly environment. Learning not to over commit oneself is part of finding balance on what is necessary and important. Trust academy emphasises that every student should have a personal timetable over and above the school timetable and follow this diligently.
Lack of perseverance
Students must learn that everything in life is a process. Life is not a sprint but a marathon. There are lessons to be learned, obstacles to overcome and challenges to be conquered. Failures should not be the final stamp but should be used to as a learning curve. If at first you don’t succeed dust yourself and try again, winning comes with blood sweat and tears.
Lack of self-esteem/ too much self confidence
These two extremes can also lead to failure. Regardless of the gifts and talents learners have, they must humble themselves and know how to interact with people, engage them and not drive them away. It is very hard from a Mr/ Miss know it all to learn and accept other people’s point of view and this can lead to failure.
Drug abuse
Drug and substance abuse has become prevalent in our society and the rate is highest among the youth mainly because of peer pressure. Trust Academy periodically runs drug rehabilitation programmes for its learners to help them understand the effects of abusing drugs and help those who had started experimenting with them on how to stop the abuse.
Our High school department believes that tackling these failures will help position students to successfully navigate the challenges of being a teenager and obtain good high grades. By maintaining low student teacher ratio our school also ensures that all students are given fair treatment and much needed attention. Our school also places much emphasis on intensive revision lessons and examination centred learning.
Rejoice Moyo is an Assistant Customer Service and Information officer at Trust Academy and can be reached at 09-883690or 0715553483, email: [email protected]
