When someone felt discouraged, a friend would offer It s always darkest before the dawn. Or to encourage patience another would say Good things come to those who wait. Hitch your wagon to a star. But as I reminisce over my teaching and learning experiences, there are some sayings that warrant a closer look because they still apply, especially to insuring college success. The few students who managed to flunk my Critical Thinking class last semester perhaps had good intentions, but didn t heed the importance of small deeds such as turning in daily homework assignments.
Several students didn t even show up for the final.
Attendance and participation in a college class are small deeds that when added to your best efforts on assignments can lead to happy results. If you re unable to keep up with a class you can avoid failure by carrying out the small deed of dropping the class before the deadline. You are the seed that decides the harvest around you. Many years ago I began requiring that students keep track of their graded assignments and compute their grades periodically. Students who don t see that grades are derived from their weekly assignments and tests often blame their failure on bad luck, on the teacher s preferences, or other people.