Quick - you just bombed a Very Important Quiz. Do you:
A) Drop the class immediately. Clearly you are doomed.
B) Brush it off. Whatevs. You'll get it next time.
C) Blame the professor for being a Stupid McJerkface.
D) Chew your roommate out for convincing you to go out last weekend when
you could have been studying.
E) Call your mom and cry.
F) Acknowledge you have to some work to do and start figuring out how you can
improve next time.
A) Drop the class immediately. Clearly you are doomed.
B) Brush it off. Whatevs. You'll get it next time.
C) Blame the professor for being a Stupid McJerkface.
D) Chew your roommate out for convincing you to go out last weekend when
you could have been studying.
E) Call your mom and cry.
F) Acknowledge you have to some work to do and start figuring out how you can
improve next time.
How Do You Respond To A Challenge?
If you chose A, that means your first reaction to failing is to flee. You have encountered a challenge, deemed it insurmountable, and decided to find an easier route.
Hey, who can blame you? It's stressful feeling like you're not good enough, and in college, the pressure to get good grades can be overwhelming. But the truth is, one crappy quiz does not an F make. So if you like the course (or you need it to graduate), resist the urge to run far far away and instead find people on campus who can assist you in better understanding the material.
If you picked B, you're not the type to freak out. Or get too worked up about anything. Maybe you'll do better on your next quiz. Maybe you won't. However, your apathy is actually a form of hand-wringing. You're saying the situation is out of your control and this bad grade just happened to you. But it didn't. And your future classroom performance is entirely within your control.
Or maybe you went with C - your professor is the WORST. I bet some of you are even right in saying that. There are a lot of professors out there who have obscure rules about what constitutes a good answer and a passing grade. But, there are also plenty of instructors who make their expectations exceptionally transparent - show up to class, do the reading, and expect pop quizzes. Are you really the victim in this scenario?
Hey, who can blame you? It's stressful feeling like you're not good enough, and in college, the pressure to get good grades can be overwhelming. But the truth is, one crappy quiz does not an F make. So if you like the course (or you need it to graduate), resist the urge to run far far away and instead find people on campus who can assist you in better understanding the material.
If you picked B, you're not the type to freak out. Or get too worked up about anything. Maybe you'll do better on your next quiz. Maybe you won't. However, your apathy is actually a form of hand-wringing. You're saying the situation is out of your control and this bad grade just happened to you. But it didn't. And your future classroom performance is entirely within your control.
Or maybe you went with C - your professor is the WORST. I bet some of you are even right in saying that. There are a lot of professors out there who have obscure rules about what constitutes a good answer and a passing grade. But, there are also plenty of instructors who make their expectations exceptionally transparent - show up to class, do the reading, and expect pop quizzes. Are you really the victim in this scenario?
It wasn't your professor's fault - it was option D, your conniving roommate, who wouldn't just let you study and made you go have fun on Friday AND Saturday night. And some of Sunday.
Your roommate was just trying to be an awesome friend. Plus, you're definitely entitled to some fun on the weekend. It wasn't the break from studying that screwed you over on that quiz. It was failing to schedule a study session around your social life.
Finally, maybe your first reaction was to call your mom and tell her how HARD you work and how MEAN your professor is and how TIRED you are and how much TIME you spent studying....
Maybe you did work hard and your instructor is especially difficult. But what's your mom supposed to do about it? There's nothing wrong with a little venting but as soon as you hang out, figure out a game plan.
Your roommate was just trying to be an awesome friend. Plus, you're definitely entitled to some fun on the weekend. It wasn't the break from studying that screwed you over on that quiz. It was failing to schedule a study session around your social life.
Finally, maybe your first reaction was to call your mom and tell her how HARD you work and how MEAN your professor is and how TIRED you are and how much TIME you spent studying....
Maybe you did work hard and your instructor is especially difficult. But what's your mom supposed to do about it? There's nothing wrong with a little venting but as soon as you hang out, figure out a game plan.
Rolling Up Your Sleeves
Did you choose the last option, and decide to get to work?
Then you are so far ahead in the game of life. For most of us, our transition from childhood to adolescence to early adulthood is marked by an increasing ability to not just react to, but also, respond to challenges.
It's perfectly normal for a college student to receive a bad grade and want to drop the class, call their mom, or blame their prof. I did all of those at least once when I was an undergrad.
However, a mature response is to refuse to play the victim, stop wringing your hands, roll up your sleeves, and get to work.
Whether the challenge is a poor grade or something much more serious, the point is that adversity is inevitable. But your response to a crisis says something about your character.
So what do you think?
Are you ready to work so that things don't happen TO you, but rather, you make things happen FOR you?
Then you are so far ahead in the game of life. For most of us, our transition from childhood to adolescence to early adulthood is marked by an increasing ability to not just react to, but also, respond to challenges.
It's perfectly normal for a college student to receive a bad grade and want to drop the class, call their mom, or blame their prof. I did all of those at least once when I was an undergrad.
However, a mature response is to refuse to play the victim, stop wringing your hands, roll up your sleeves, and get to work.
Whether the challenge is a poor grade or something much more serious, the point is that adversity is inevitable. But your response to a crisis says something about your character.
So what do you think?
Are you ready to work so that things don't happen TO you, but rather, you make things happen FOR you?
