How to Succeed in High School and University

Seek out and take harder courses that will stretch your mind and prepare you for the real world, Christian Milord wrote. (Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock)

Commentary

What are some steps youngsters can take to succeed in secondary school and institutions of higher learning? The most important traits consist of solid study habits and a healthy work ethic. These habits can start to develop as early as elementary school. Despite growing up with limited resources in a family that moved often, I somehow managed to accept the challenge. Moreover, someone upstairs was looking out for me.

How I Did It

I started to develop work habits in junior high school. I helped neighbors with chores, mowed lawns, and cut wood while attending schools in a number of Canadian provinces. As I moved into high school, I continued with part-time jobs. These included cafeteria work, farming, and maintaining coal boilers to heat the dormitories and other buildings at boarding schools in Alberta and Tennessee.

Although I goofed around in class at times, I was also paying attention to the teachers and striving to keep up with homework, long-term projects, note taking, and tests. My parents expected that I would be attentive to all of my responsibilities and remain diligent even with courses that I didn’t like very much.

As the time for a college choice rolled around, my father advised me as to how I should correspond with colleges and make my own decision. I decided on William Penn College in Iowa for my first year of college. I lived in the dormitory and was part of the maintenance crew to help pay for my college expenses. I also took out a small loan to help cover the costs of education and never entertained the thought that anyone else would repay the loan after college.

Throughout my college years, I worked full-time in the summers in the fields of farming and copper/zinc mining. My next three years of college were undertaken at the University of Winnipeg, where I lived in the dorm for one year and then in an apartment for the following years.

I worked in the student cafeteria part-time and in the summers dove right into hard physical labor. After earning a degree, I entered the U.S. Coast Guard, which is the opposite of what most folks decide to do. They usually serve a tour and then attend university.

In the USCG, my study and work habits came in handy because the training was relentless and tough. I served a four-year tour in Florida and North California, learning the skills of electronic radio navigation and financial logistics.

I was a member of the base basketball team for three years, and we competed against Bay area colleges and military bases. After my duty tour, I experimented with a number of primary and service occupations before deciding to become an educator.

So I came to CSU–Fullerton to earn my credentials and master’s degree in education. It was a grind, but I endured it while working part-time to pay for expenses. I had to rewrite part of my thesis and spent scores and scores of hours on a thesis that articulated the communication style of administrators. I sent out surveys and carried out plenty of research to complete the program. I then went on to spend many years teaching secondary school in Orange County.

How Youngsters Can Succeed

All teenagers can succeed in school if they take a positive attitude toward the rollercoaster of any educational process. First, try to get used to rising early in the morning to greet the new day of study and work. Discipline yourself to set a schedule that will help you stay focused and organized.

Next, eat a healthy diet as much as possible and get adequate rest, because classes and part-time work can expend plenty of energy. You want to have reserves of energy to attend classes and complete assignments and carry out any research for written papers.

Third, don’t follow the crowd. If the crowd wants you to party a lot, reply, “Thanks, but no thanks.” You want to keep a wide berth between yourself and the influence of alcohol or drugs. You are in school to learn and study with perhaps a few extracurricular activities such as sports thrown in. Limit your use of electronic devices in favor of reading, researching, and writing.

Fourth, take the challenge of finding suitable part-time employment and be reliable with your co-workers and employer. In the summers, it doesn’t hurt to find full-time or almost full-time employment to help defray the costs of an education. If you take out a college loan, don’t expect the taxpayers to bail you out. Be responsible for all of your decisions.

Fifth, seek out and take harder courses that will stretch your mind and prepare you for the real world. Utilize counselors to help you stay on track. Strive to narrow down your career choice in your first or second year of college so you can focus on your moderate to long-term goals. Students often change their majors until they finally settle on one that suits their comfort level and talents.

Finally, be grateful for the opportunity of an education. Hundreds of millions of folks around the world don’t get the opportunity to receive a secondary or college education. Show your gratitude by studying hard, working hard, and staying out of trouble. If you seek an advanced degree, adhere to the same healthy habits. By all means, have some fun, but don’t wear your pajamas to class or to work!

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.