The Joy of Being an Average Student

  In India nothing can be as bad as being an average student. It is like going through the worst part from the beginning. Parents expect their children to be above 90% and sometimes even ridiculously above 95%, so they can fake their grandeur to other parents, belittling children of those who did not appear to be equal or higher to them in terms of marks. The situation is that securing average or low marks is directly related to their infame.

  Under all these bizarre treatments, the worst side-effects can be seen on students. They gradually start believing that they are not good at anything and this seems to be the beginning of the reduction of their self-esteem. The logical side says that all students cannot be highly meritorious and even if we think of a situation where all or most are meritorious, then there will be emergence of new aspects which will further denote their intelligence. Once again it will bring to the same place that all students cannot be meritorious. But still parents will think, “ Yes all students cannot be meritorious but my son/daughter has to be.” Although, they do not realize that this is something that most parents think and expect.

Before analysing the situation of average students, let us go to meritorious students. Meritorious students are no doubt, meritorious. But it must not be forgotten that they are meritorious in academics. Success is very bizarre, it never guarantees to be achieved if someone is great academically. But yes it is one of the main requirements at least if someone has an academic goal of . Now, the issue with meritorious students is that they will learn everything that is brought in as a part of their curriculum because they always want that tag to be with them. At times they do not realize that some topics, if not subjects, are unnecessary or not very important. But since they want to secure and hold the position always, they do not care about anything else outside their syllabus. Their syllabus is everything that they have, it is generally a cage that they have been caged in. Sometimes they are even terribly afraid of losing their position. For example, my classmate who was a topper, used to never help me or even when he helped, he either did it incomplete or misguided me so I do not threaten his first position. This in no way is about all meritorious or toppers but a mere generalization that very often occurs. 

  The great thing about average students is that while they are average academically, at the same time there are other areas on which they focus and try to learn. There are many average students who have transformed the lives of millions of people with their great success. This is because they do not believe in the extrapolation which means what others think about a specific grand position or field. They listen to their inner voice and follow it. This is also a perfect example of bravery: to listen to your heart at such a tender age and dare to be different from what everyone else thinks. For example, there are many average students who skipped their studies after 10th or 12th and directly went on working on their dream or started with their humble effort. By the time their classmate graduated and started looking for a job, they had already made their business successful and had become a brand of intelligence. When I was in college I had seen it. I was in one of the best colleges of Kolkata and in a very ordinary graduation department of B.A General. I had a purpose to be there that I wanted to pursue UPSC so I just chose it so I can focus on all my needed subjects more than mastering a specific one. The same thing was about my most classmates. I came to realize it when I started paying attention. There were many musicians, footballers, models, fashion designers, entrepreneurs and many more. All of them wanted to focus on something outside academics as their main career goal and simultaneously to pursue graduation as a degree. If not all then most of them were average or some even below average students while judging them with academics and marks, but without any doubt extraordinary while looking at their main goal. This point is something that I really want to infuse in you, in our new generation that in order to be successful you do not have to be great at everything. To be more specific, if you want to focus on any non-academic skill like dancing, playing, singing, designing and many more, in that case academics just plays an additional attraction. This point is crucial to understand here. Never be ashamed of yourself for not studying like the topper of your class. Probably, the topper wants to pursue engineering, medical or become an IAS, while you want to go to play for Team India.

  Now, this does not mean that being average is always good. If you do not have another non-academic goal which can even be achievable without scoring very well and you do not focus on studies then you are in the most dangerous zone for now until you change it either to finding such a non-academic goal or start studying very seriously. The thing is that parents as well as youngsters need to understand that there is no one situation that fits all and a child should not be discouraged only because he is not doing so well academically.

  The other thing that I want to tell you is that even if you have a goal which does not need a degree or very good marks, it should not make you complacent or uncaring towards learning and securing good marks. Do you remember the feeling when you once got very good marks? There are many things which come with good marks generally, and they are:

1 Your parents may be more supportive when you do well academically.

2 Your confidence level really boosts when you do great. Similarly, when you do average or below average then it may go down. 

3 With very good performance in studies many areas for careers open up. 

4 Others also look at you respectfully which helps you in the long run.

5 You may get many scholarships and support in your career if you do well.

6 Suppose at any point you have to choose plan B which you must set and if it is academic, then a good result will considerably help you for that. 

 Please remember that at the end of the day your success and peacefulness matter. No matter what you aspire to be or what path you choose, you will really need to work very hard, understand the process and leave room for error. In all this continuous improvement as well as mentorship will be essential. While you focus on your goal, try also to learn it from learned people. Contact them and ask them how you can go there where these successful people have gone. It is always easier and wise to learn from others what they have learnt in months and probably you will require years. If you are average student and you do not know what to do then you can think about the following options which may help you:

1: Pay attention to your hobbies because most hobbies are sources of great enjoyment and earning.

2:  Pay attention to different kinds of career options. Probably you did not pay attention to them and that is why you do not have any preference till now.

3:  One of the best options is to check the subjects that you like the most and try finding out sources of income that they carry. If you have not done well until now, it does not mean that you cannot change, especially with online courses and sources of learning. 

4:  If you are in college then you must focus on extracurricular activities. Extra-curricular activities are one of the best things to do in college to find your true self. Unfortunately, our colleges do not pay the needful attention to these activities and so do our students.

5: My favorite thing about all this and professional life is to use LinkedIn. Through LinkedIn I have learnt a lot and still I am learning every day. This is the only social media which plays a positive role in our life.