Home » Commentary » Key to Academic Success
Patience is a key to Academic Success
Patience is a lost virtue for many who live in our contemporary society. People of all ages, races and social economic backgrounds appear to be extremely impatient. The pursuit of pleasure is a constant pastime for many people. The concept of hard work and sacrifice seems to be a fading quest of years gone by.
The pursuit of fun and games and a saturation of computer and technical devices are major challenges to the concept of patience. The entertainment media complex seems to suggest that a person can achieve all of their goals and objectives at young age without the benefit of hard work and sacrifice. The lure of multimillion dollar sports contacts, the selling of illicit drugs or the signing of huge recording contracts has given many young people a false perception that they can be extremely happy and successful without the maturity of making rational decisions and positive choices.
Several high profile athletes and entertainment icons were recently arrested and spent time behind bars. Most of their problems were due to negative lifestyle choices. A swift rise to fame and fortune and a rapid descent to shame and disgrace is an indication that money cannot purchase maturity and good judgment.
The lack of patience is usually a missing trait in the lives of those who fail to use good judgment. Delaying gratification for greater gain is a concept that needs to be reintroduced to the American public.
We live in a fast pace society. Major decisions which affect the lives of the masses are sometimes made with little planning or rational thought. Some of our public schools are failing because students do not value the importance of patience. Many students skip steps one and two and go directly to step three when they attempt to address language arts issues or solve math problems and in the process they are frustrated when they fail to learn the principles of language arts or the concepts of math. The virtue of patience and the importance of listening before talking need to be stressed in the home and in our public schools.
I had an opportunity to be around some successful people. In observing them up close and personal, the primary quality they possessed was the virtue of patience. They read and followed instructions before solving problems and they listened more than they talked.
The primary lesson, I learned in observing those who have had great academic success is that patience and a desire to listen and fellow instructions are essential for success in the classroom and life.
Reverend Micheal J. Darby