According to career strategist & author of 'Launch Your Career in College: Strategies for Students, Educators, & Parents', psyching yourself up to be a really good student is a bad strategy.
She argues that "students are conditioned to concentrate on racking up their accomplishments from the list of other people's expectations – not their own. And then, even if they do an exceptional job of fulfilling those expectations, they are conditioned to wait & wait & wait – first for their schoolteachers, then for their professors, & later for their bosses to grade, direct, & praise their performance, & then promote us automatically to the next level."
She calls it the 'Good Student Trap'.
Interestingly, she explains that "System dependency is not the only damaging concept we have learned in school... We have also learned our place & hung out only with people who looked like us, acted like us & came from families like ours. We actually blocked out everyone else who was different, & we were locked out in turn..."
"Sadly, the 'good student' attitude can actually block us from being motivated & connected to new ideas & networks of people."
She recommends avoiding these traps by replacing 'good student' behavior, obedience, & passivity with imaginativeness, friendliness, & curiosity.
"Rather than settling, expect more. Work to overcome shyness & fear of involvement by taking risks and building networks".
Her parting shot:
"Don't settle for a boring, grade-oriented college life. Don't turn college into a test. You'll end up merely passing: passing tests, passing time, passing up possibilities for achievement, passing up life."
Definitely, an interesting thought, really worth pondering about.
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