Learning as a Champion: The Engaged Student

College requires a substantial investment of money and a great amount of perspiration. It is important that students make the most of this opportunity not just because of the cost, but also to be better prepared for a fast paced changing world. The question that should be asked is whether the student is properly prepared with the necessary skills to succeed in college. They must also be prepared to approach college from the proper point of view regarding the relationship between them and the college. In my years in education as a teacher, administrator, college president and university chancellor I rarely found a student who could not intellectually make the grade to graduation. However, in spite of that ability, many did drop out of school in the first year. Sometimes in the first term. I often found myself questioning why that happened. New students started with such excitement, dedication and optimism. What happened that dashed those hopes? In talking with a number of students who did drop out, I found that one of the most common reasons was that they just were not prepared to be an effective student in several critical areas. Some of those areas included: time mastery, project management, the art of discipline, the ability to plan, the ability to set priorities and choose from among alternatives and the meaning of commitment. But I found there was another significant reason that contributed to their lack of success. Many seemed to run out of steam because they had no long term objective. They had not planned their life so college was a means to an end rather than an end game. Often, it was as if they were building a house focused only on the hammer! Students need to see college as a transformation process that moves them from where they are to where they desire to be at some point in the future. While I am well aware that many will change what they want to do many times, it is important that college is seen as a means to an end not an end unto itself. As one athletic coach explained, “it is easy to change the plan to something else if you need to but it is difficult to win with no plan at all!” Many enter college with no life plan at all! Often, the lack of skills, preparation and planning in these areas caused them to fall behind in their studies and as a result they became academically in danger of failing. It was not because they did not have the intelligence to succeed, it was because they did not have the skills and discipline to keep up. They did not have a plan for the future so rather than being motivated by attitude about the future, they were only motivated by fear and incentive neither of which work to achieve long term results.