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High school student success
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Failure is a necessary and fundamental part of life. Most people fail at some point in their lives, and they have to generally fail at something before they can ultimately reach success, even though failure can be defined as a lack of success. A lot of times, a person fails because they failed to adequately prepare for success. As a sophomore in high school, one of the required courses in the high school that I attended was American Literature/Writing. That year, I did not have myself signed up for any of the AP classes offered, which means that I did not have any background with what an AP class truly feels like, but all I knew was that the year of 2015-2016 was a success for me. American Literature was a successful class for me, and I felt …show more content…
At that particular period of my sophomore year, I felt accomplished because my hard work was paying off and I was earning the grades that I wanted. I decided that since my experience so far in my English classes was successful, I chose AP Language and Composition as my junior year’s English course, and ever since I wrote down the course on my course selection card, I kept thinking about much I was going to enjoy the experience throughout the course. Junior year came, and two and a half to three weeks into the course, I was ready to switch out into another one. I did not only have AP Lang as my AP course, but I also had AP Biology, which is the most talked about difficult AP course in my high school (especially if you were not exposed to Honors Biology, and I wasn’t, but I was very interested in the field of Science). I realized a huge difference between American Literature and AP Lang, but it was too late to ask for a switch from my counselor, so I thought to stay positive, give the course another chance, and work harder every day. Every day that I was in class, I would find myself uninterested and unable to understand the
What exactly is failure? It is, according to the dictionary, “Lack of success.” Many people say that “failure isn’t the falling down, but the staying down.” But who are we to say? Lack of hope, the thought that death and failure are one and the same, and a pessimistic outlook on life can cause someone to fail, but thankfully not everyone falls victim to these. Failure is always controversial, because people view things and events differently. As Elaine Maxewell once said, “My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.”
Throughout high school, the English courses were very time consuming and over whelming resulting in me disliking the subject even more. The assignments and readings that were usually given took up the majority of my time; this resulted in work from my other courses being left unfinished. My last two years of school consisted of research papers and in class compositions. But nothing compared to the tedious work that I encountered my junior and senior year when I decided to challenge myself by taking AP English courses. Many people said it was just like any other English course with a little extra writing involved; my view was completely different. The AP English class...
During my early education, meaning elementary school and middle school, I was a very average student. I gave an average amount of effort to my grades, and I received above average results. This did not bother me, until the end of my 8th-grade year. At this point in the year, I was filling out what classes I desired to take the following year, my freshman year. I realized that from this point forward, I had to take my education much more serious, in order to get accepted to whichever college I desired. therefore, when planning my classes, I decided to challenge myself more than I ever have in the past, and take multiple honors courses. I assumed because of my grades, that I had what it took to be an honors-level student, but I was very wrong. One teacher, Mrs. Johnson, made me realize the kind of effort, time and energy needed to be devoted to my education.
Failure can cause a torrent of mixed emotions and thoughts. One can begin to doubt their motives for even attempting to succeed at a certain task. Some people may choose to give up after failure, but there are a select few who rise up to the occasion and move forward to try and succeed no matter how many tries it takes. By overcoming those difficult moments in life, it gives a person a sense of accomplishment and pride and that alone is a beautiful thing.
In the essay "The right to fail" by William Zinsser he says “ Don't be afraid to fail!” (Zinsser 81-83) failure isn't fatal.Countless people have had a bout with it and come out stronger as a result." Failure can be used as a tool of success because you can learn from your mistakes. Willam defines success differently than the average norm. He believes the younger generation are starting to define there own meaning of success. The dropouts and the hippies just don't buy the old standard of success and neither do I. I think that within your mistakes there is always a chance to get better. In my life there's been times I have messed up but I learned from it like when I came in dead last in a 100 meter dash. I was devastated and quite embarrassed but I didn't let it knock me down and I trained much harder and guess what? I came in second next race. No not first, but I'll get there because my failure became my
Sherry states that failure will lead to motivation that is just ample to jump start an individual to focus on their grades and do well in school. In support of this, Sherry speaks of a senior in high school who didn’t care about his grades until his mom informed him that he was going to fail his class and have to retake the course, and just like that “English became a priority in his life. He finished out the semester with an A” (Sherry 520). Along with Sherry, Zinsser also claims that “failure isn’t bad in itself” (Zinsser 526). Disproving the stigma that failure is incorrect and shouldn’t be thought of in that way. Zinsser further supports his statement by using examples from celebrity interviews, celebrities that have used their failures to set themselves on a path to success. One of the celebrities, Fred Zinnemann, an American-Australian film director claims,“I’ve learned a great deal from my failures” (Zinsser 526). While Richard Brooks, an American actor, said that “he learned more about his craft from this failure than from… many earlier hits” (Zinsser 527). It isn’t just common people that can utilize failure but it is everyone. Failure can be used by one and all to become successful to each their own. Both Sherry and Zinsser share a very similar perspective on the benefits of
The highest percentage of failing students comes from high school. Every student has their own story as to why they are struggling in school. In the end, every student has their struggles, the only difference is that each student tackles their challenges a bit different. A student from Anaheim High School shared his story. He started off by saying that one of his teachers from freshman year told him to take an AP class his sophomore year.
It involves going to class which most definitely leads to me seeing something interesting and then getting lost in an area of campus I don’t recognize. In class I can learn just like everyone else, it just takes more concentration and focus than the average student, and even then I still get distracted, missing an entire part of the lesson. To summarize it in Helen Rice’s words on a BBC interview (September 23, 2016) “I wake up every morning a new woman. I think, ‘Today is the day I’m going to do everything right and get on top of the important things instead of [procrastinating]. And every night I go to bed a broken woman because it’s all gone wrong again and I haven’t done any of it.
It is that time of year once more, exams, graduation, packing up the room, but in a moment such as this I can take time to reflect upon what I’ve accomplished throughout my senior year. In just a short 180 days, so much has happened. Sports seasons came and went, dances, school functions, but one thing remained a constant, AP work. I remember at the end of last year that I didn’t want to take AP literature and composition, I wanted to just be able to coast through my senior year, get by with minimal effort and besides, I would never be any good at the material anyway. That is when my parents stepped in and forced me to take it, as well as AP United States Government and Politics, and it may have been the greatest interception of all time. I knew the course was going to be difficult, it is Mr. Primmer for crying out loud. But, it was difficult with a purpose, a drive to succeed was behind every single assignment and a stride for improvement behind every single grade. I learned a lot about myself this year in this class. I learned that maybe I should have a little more faith in myself, I can accomplish things when I really try. I learned that I do not like analyzing poetry but I do like reading Shakespeare.
Failure is apart of life, it can make or break a person. When a person experiences a type of failure it is now up to them to see how they respond. They can choose the high road, and become a stronger person for it. Then they can choose the low road, the easy way out. The easy way out is never a good choice. It can lead only to destruction. The high road is the right choice to take when responding to failure. It will lead down a path of success. Jessica Lahey’s article, “When Success Leads to Failure” is an article that shows how kids are experiencing failure. Lahey says that, “these kids have a fear for failure, and that they have given up natural loves for learning. They are scared of not being successful”(Lahey). The truth is life is hard there will be failure. There is nothing in this world that comes easy to anyone.
The effects of failure can be devastating, but every one has to fail eventually, even people like J.K. rowling have had to start at rock bottom again they just need to push themselves in the right direction. In J.K Rowling's speech she stalks about her failures and how she came back from them to right a definingin books series. She claims “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”(Rowling,20). With this she says that failure is an important aspect of every ones life but then she says”Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way.”(Rowling, 21). With this she talks about how important it was for her to fail to begin with, because it's important to fail in life just as long as you can get up and brush yourself off afterwards
My ACT score wasn’t even high enough to take this class but I still decided it would be in my best interest to take the class and expand my knowledge. With English being one of my worst subjects, I knew that taking it would challenge me to work harder than I ever have before. I knew if I didn’t make things harder on myself I wouldn’t go anywhere in
As I am in my junior year at Godinez, I have become a confident student that has the willing to enroll in some higher challenging classes, particularly in AP Chemistry, AP English Language, and AP United States History. I have applied to get three Advanced Placement classes in my junior year because I wanted to challenge myself. In taking three higher level college courses, I discovered that my weakness was in AP U.S. History because I was having trouble in remembering the specific historic events that have happened in a certain time period. I did not have the ability to remember all of the events that I have learned for a long period of time. However, the class that I am really in good strength with is AP Chemistry because I love to handle
It will always happen though throughout life. Without having to fail you wouldn’t find anything new. Failing would just motivate yourself even more to succeed. That one person will do whatever it takes to succeed. So failing is motivation itself. Such as in baseball, you may strike out the first time, but next time you pump yourself up and swing for the fences the next at bat. Success is a lot sweeter, when you do it on your own. The students may fail one test, but should go home and study for the next one and hopefully pass with flying colors. It all begins with in yourself and how much you love doing the thing your are trying to complete. Such as school, not many people like it, but they know that in the future they are going to benefit themselves. Somethings the students just have to suck it up and wait till the future, because if they choose the education route they will become happy and successful. Many students have been doing that. They know that the future holds better things for them. It is crazy that the students that are playing sports can juggle school and their sport. Some even have jobs so being oriental can beneficial. The students that don’t do sports and don’t have a job shouldn’t have an excuse on why they didn’t succeed. They have all the time after school to study and finish homework. The school even offers after school tutoring if they are having trouble in a certain subject. So, in reality there are only way to fail in school, and that is not asking for help or just not trying hard enough. The self motivation part is a big factor in success. Also, you can make a friend and through that they can callab with each other and share one another 's thoughts on the difficult subject. Like everyone else they don’t want to listen to the teacher and that is where the cellphone issue is in play, they tend to daydream one thing leads to another and they jump on their phone. The students just need a role
Importance of Failure for College Students Failure, in today’s society, has become something to fear, avoid, and for that reason must be prevented at all cost. Be it a student failing his/her final exam, unemployment, or bailouts for failing companies, the world now seems to recognize failure as having no redeeming social value. Though the drive to succeed is consequential, the harsh reality is we can’t win all the time. Success has become an expectation rather than a goal. Students and parents will do all it takes to succeed, regardless of the lengths they have to go.