As schools reopen for second term of 2024, a lot has happened during this brief break. The disaster of flash floods hit the country hard. Leading to postponement of reopening of schools. Floods wreaked havoc in several parts of the country. Just like Covid-19 pandemic, flash floods paralysed learning, leading to exploration and proliferation of online learning.
In the contrary, as schools reopen, other schools will have to wait a bit due to the ruthless reign of rain. So, as students report back to school, they must be prepared to brace up for crush programme. For every school will race up against time to compensate for time lost during the short stasis. In the whole scheme of things, students must develop the soft skills of resilience and endurance: to help them bounce back better.
In actual sense, three steps forward, and two steps backwards, is equal to one-step forward. Dr John C. Maxwell wrote in his heroic book titled Failing Forward. Successful people behave like the football ball. When they hit the wall hard, they bounce back better. They build back better. In the students’ context, bouncing back better in academics means that they strive to evince excellence, improve continuously, fill gaps, mend mistakes and overcome failure.
- Evince excellence
To evince excellence, students should strive to manifest at their best. They can only achieve this when they become better versions of themselves, say no to mediocrity, pay the price, stretch and go the extra mile.
Then, when I think of excellence, I dote it on Martin Luther King’s speech titled What is Your Life’s Blueprint. That silver-tongued orator of all time delivered the soul-stimulating speech at Barrat Junior High School on October 26, 1967 in Philadelphia, United States. Part of it says, “If you find yourself to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare penned poetry.
Sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth shall pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper that swept his job well. If you cannot be a pine on top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. But be the best little shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you cannot be a tree. If you cannot be a highway, just be a trail. If you cannot be a sun, be a star. For it is not by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are. If you cannot fly, run. If you cannot run, walk. If you cannot walk, crawl. But by all means, keep on moving.”
- Improve continuously
Manufacturers of Toyota cars in Japan believe in the Kaizen Principle of Continuous Improvement: to boost and spur productivity. It entails just improving slightly. In school, after getting a B, the student can strive to score a B+, A-, and then eventually an A. That can happen if a student understands that there is always a chance for improvement.
The largest room is the one for improvement. The performance should not nose-dive or plummet. It should not fluctuate. The graph should take an exponential phase at all times. The one-billion-dollar question should always be: How do I improve from C+ to B or how do I improve from a B+ to an A?
- Fill gaps
Bouncing back means that students purpose to fill gaps that manifest in the academic spheres. Some gaps that require some filling include gaps in content mastery, interpretation of exam questions, emerging trends in setting and marking of KCSE, writing of exams, mastery of concepts in the lower forms and gaps in discipline and motivation. The pantheon of philosophers say: “Motivation keeps us growing, but discipline keeps us growing.”
- Mend mistakes
Winston Churchill sagely said, “All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.” A fool is the one who makes the same mistake twice. We can do three things about mistakes. One, ignore them. Two, deny them. Three, accept, and learn from them. The third alternative takes courage. It is risky, but rewarding.
When we defend our weaknesses, we actually start building our lives around them, making them centre points, rather than overcoming them. There are five ways to handle mistakes. One, admit it quickly. Two, do not dwell on it. Three, learn from it. Four, do not repeat it. Five, do not assign blame, or make excuses.
- Overcome failure
Ideally, we cannot measure our success by how high we go up in life, but many times we bounce back after we fall down. Students who are at the rock bottom of academic performance require constant encouragement. Failure in any exam is not the end of life. It does not mean the chapter is closed, fate is tightly sealed, and the game is lost.
In actual sense, all of us can remember the story of the four leprous men recorded in 2 Kings 7:3-10. Because leprosy was a dreadful disease, they were thrown out of the city to wait for their death. Luckily, they jolted to consciousness and asked one another, “Why should we sit here until we die?” When the four men who were sick and weak took a leap of faith, and started to move, the God of host multiplied their simple steps. When the Syrians heard their movement, they thought Israelites had hired the Egyptian and Hittite army, superpowers in those distant days.
Therefore, they fled from the camp. Little did they know that they were running away from weak and sick men. The four men went there. They ate, until they got sated, and took back glad tidings to Israel. They saved Israelites from whistling hunger. Bringing to pass the prophetic declaration of Elisha: Tomorrow, at a time like this, one tin of floor shall sell at a shekel. That is how God works.
We plant his seeds in weakness but they sprout out in power. He gives strength to the weak. He uses the weak to ashame the strong. He heals the sick. When we do the ordinary, He does the extraordinary. When we do the natural, He does the supernatural. When we do our best, He does the rest.
Some students, who look low and slow, are the ones who are going to pass exams with flying colours. They will matriculate into good colleges to do good courses, and eventually help their relatives in future. No student is a fool. Every student carries the hope and help of many people. Being that education is an investment, God will cause good returns to emerge.
By Victor Ochieng’
The writer rolls out academic talks in schools. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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