Meredith Myers's Online Journal

What does an A student look like?

This post isn't directly related to in-course work, but I share it because it was sparked by 2 comments I heard or overheard MGMT 250 students make today during grading contract meetings:
1. "I am going to contract for a B. I am not that smart, and I think anything more than a B will overwhelm me."
2. "I have to work really hard. I am not as smart as everyone else, but I know where my strengths and weaknesses are, and I work hard."

First of all, I believe that both of these comments show an admirable degree of self-awareness, which is something we are trying to work on in MGMT 250. Secondly, however, I wonder if both of these students weren't selling themselves short. I would like to offer my own two-cents about what it takes to be a good student. I will do so with a story and then a little commentary afterwards.

STORY:
I was the salutatorian of my high school class. The student who finished first was a really hard worker. She did all of her homework. She was organized. She studied a lot for the tests. I was the opposite. Since 4th grade I had stopped doing 90% of my homework at home. I did most of my homework during other classes on the day the work was due. I was the character walking to tests with my classnotes in my hands, trying to cram at the last minute. Most of my organization came from external sources: mom, my basketball schedule, friends who wanted to study in groups, etc.
On school tests, we both tended to get perfect scores. On the SATs, however, I did very much better. "PROOF!" I thought, that I was the better student. I felt somewhat disgruntled to finish second in class rank, but I felt some sort of pride in knowing that I had done much less schoolwork overall and that the SAT told me I was "smarter."

I don't know how my former classmate did in college, though I am willing to bet that those excellent grades kept rolling in. I, however, was confronted by a massive lack of external structure, poor habits I had spent years perfecting, and a sudden fear that maybe I wouldn't be able to catch up. Workwise, college was a major struggle for me, and I soon came to realize that my high school's valedictorian certainly had the superior approach for student success. Brains may be a big part of being successful in school, but hard work and organization are must-have's.

COMMENTARY:
The above story is not subtle, so I will focus here on the questions that it raises for me:
- what does a successful student look like? to what extent can hard work and organization overcome "intellectual deficiencies"?
- when we think about success, what are we thinking in relation to? "how successful am I compared to my classmates?", "how successful am I compared to what I am capable of achieving?", "how successful am i compared to what others expect me to be?"
- how much should grades define the student experience? to what extent do extracurricular activities/interests and other relationships shape who we are and where we will go one day? I feel that I had a rich, well-rounded and relatively very happy high school experience, but I was also unknowingly developing skills that I have spent the next 10 years un-learning and re-tooling.

To bring this full circle, let me say that I am happy that MGMT 250 allows students to reflect on some of these ideas in terms of yourselves as college students in transition to adult lives. While I don't believe there is one right answer to any of the questions I posted above, I do believe that grappling with these questions is fundamental to how we shape our identities and self-esteem.

Lastly, to the 2 students I heard today, let me assure you that knowing yourselves and working hard put you in a better place for success than you might realize. You both strike me as exemplary students by any standards.