Botanical hell: do all schoolchildren need to chase fives
An excellent student is a nerd who, in adulthood, will be content with a secondary role as a performer. A good guy is an inconspicuous quiet guy, so he won't make a leader. But the troechnik is a bully and a rebel — a risky guy who will achieve everything. Psychologists and educators call these stereotypes myths that have nothing to do with real life. What are the advantages of fives and threes and how to study to become a successful businessman — in the material of Izvestia.
Nerds and bullies
Labels are dangerous and do not correspond to reality, says Olga Umanova, a clinical psychologist at the Be Healthy — Nakhabino Harmony and Health Center. School performance is not a diagnosis of personality, and the division into "nerds", "quiet people" and "bullies" with a projection on grades is a strong simplification.
"Excellent students are a heterogeneous group,— Umanova comments. — There are children among them who are really deeply interested in knowledge, and those who are driven by fear of failure or high expectations of their parents. They are united not by "memorization", but by well-developed self-regulation.: the ability to set goals, plan time, and manage your attention. It's a valuable skill for adulthood.
According to Umanova, the good guys demonstrate excellent resource management skills. They intuitively understand where to direct their efforts for maximum results. This is strategic thinking, which is highly in demand in business and project work.
— Triples and twos are the most diverse group. The reasons for low academic performance can be diametrically opposed: from real cognitive difficulties to boredom and lack of motivation due to the fact that the school curriculum does not meet their interests or is ahead of them, says Olga Umanova.
The clinical psychologist also emphasizes that underachievers can include both children with undisclosed creative abilities and those who are going through a difficult life period (family problems, bullying, teenage crisis). From the expert's point of view, poor grades are not an indicator of a lack of knowledge or intelligence in cases where:
— the child is thinking outside the box. He may understand the essence of the phenomenon more deeply than is required, but incorrectly formalize the answer or propose unconventional solutions that the system is not ready to accept.;
— there are problems with executive functions: difficulty concentrating (ADHD), procrastination, poor planning. Even an intelligent child may simply not be able to keep up or mobilize at the control;
— practical intelligence prevails. Some children are successful in real-life situations (for example, in sports, mechanics, and social interactions), but they are weak in academic tasks.;
— psychological state is affected: high level of anxiety (exam stress), low self-esteem, depression.
Psychologist of the children's clinic "Be Healthy", art therapist, rehabilitologist, regressologist, expert of the professional association of psychologists "Osnova" Ksenia Lapshina also considers the topic of five- and three-year-olds ambiguous.
— You can be an excellent student because you like to get knowledge, — says Lapshina. — And you can chase fives only because fours are punished at home. And these are two completely different excellent students.
Good people usually prefer certain subjects, enjoying them, Lapshina believes. For example, someone likes history and literature, but he is losing out with mathematics. But if a child is a humanitarian, then there is no point in forcing him to pull with all his might what is going badly. The focus should be on what you like.
— There are students who started school early, when they were still emotionally "not ready" for school, — Lapshina continues. — They should have played for another year, and the child was put at the desk. What is the motivation for learning? And there are C-students who come to school to relax, because there are strained relations at home. And these are also different triples.
An excellent student or a C student
The clinical psychologist calls the assumption that school honors students are unsuitable for adulthood because they become boring performers a myth, which is usually created for psychological self-defense by those who have experienced difficulties in school. Success in adulthood depends on a completely different set of qualities than success in school. And excellent students here have both advantages and risk areas, Umanova emphasizes.
— Many successful leaders, scientists and entrepreneurs were excellent students. Their advantage lies in diligence, deep immersion in the topic, and discipline. These qualities are critically important for building a career in any complex field (law, medicine, science, IT)," Umanova comments.
Nevertheless, there is a grain of truth in the hypothesis of failure, Umanova believes.
—The school system often encourages convergent thinking (finding the only right answer), while business and leadership value divergent thinking (finding multiple solutions), willingness to take risks, and the ability to act in the face of uncertainty," says the clinical psychologist. — And so if an excellent student continues to act exclusively according to instructions in adulthood, fearing mistakes, then he may get stuck in the position of a performer.
Such a model can be realized and changed, the expert believes. Flexibility of thinking, willingness to learn from mistakes and the ability to adapt, which can be developed after school, are useful in this.
Neither can Troechnik's reputation, which has developed over the years of study, be called a verdict. By graduation, it's not just realistic, but absolutely normal to get smart, says a clinical psychologist.
"Adolescence is a period of brain rewiring," Umanova comments. — There is an active restructuring of neural connections: unnecessary (for example, early childhood connections) are destroyed, and frequently used ones are strengthened.
The clinical psychologist suggests presenting the conditional "success formula" as follows:
— soft skills. Emotional intelligence (the ability to understand oneself and others, negotiate), critical thinking, sociability, creativity, stress tolerance;
— personal qualities: determination, perseverance, curiosity, willingness to take risks and accept responsibility;
— environment and support: access to quality education, family support, mentors, "social capital";
— will and chance: perseverance in achieving goals and a factor of luck that cannot be discounted.
According to Umanova, school grades in this hierarchy are at the level of an instrument or indicator. They can be an indicator of self-discipline and responsibility, serve as a pass to prestigious universities, which opens up certain opportunities.
— But A's alone do not guarantee happiness, a strong family, financial literacy or the ability to be a leader. A real "adult" life begins when a person ceases to be an "excellent student" in a system with an external assessment and begins to set meaningful goals for himself and evaluate his achievements, says the clinical psychologist.
According to Umanova, school years are important, but only the initial stage of a long journey. Therefore, one should not allow the labels set in childhood to determine one's fate. The ability to grow, learn, and adapt is the main skill that is worth cultivating, no matter what grades were in the diary.
Disadvantages of stoballnikov
Speech therapist, psychologist, art therapist, teacher of Russian language and literature, teacher with 40 years of experience Inna Bogoroditskaya also advises not to adhere to stereotypes. So, the teacher also considers the judgment that excellent students are unsuitable for adult life because they simply become "boring performers" rather than leaders to be a myth.
— An excellent student can be both an excellent performer and a leader. I would also like to note that performance in itself does not mean "boring". Even in a given system, you can be creative: in your approach to business, in your relationships with people, and in managing processes. Moreover, a good performer often becomes a leader in the future. Today, emotional intelligence is most important — the ability to understand others, build connections, and feel your place in the world. It is he who determines whether a person will be successful, and not just the presence of leadership ambitions," explains Inna Bogoroditskaya.
According to the teacher, an excellent student is, first of all, the will and self—organization, the ability to force yourself to study even when you don't want to; keep a routine and always be in working condition.
— In addition, an excellent student usually has the qualities of a "careerist": the ability to please teachers, build a strategy for getting high grades and always keep the bar, — says Bogoroditskaya.
But excellent students are not always smarter than those who, for various reasons, cannot boast of "round" fives, the expert emphasizes.
— Rigid exam formats, such as the essay on the Unified State Exam, allow you to demonstrate the structure, but do not allow a gifted child to open up. The compositions of students are perfect in form, but they are often less interesting than the texts of children who write vividly, albeit with errors. As Bunin said, genius is a combination of education and "the wonder of a savage," that is, the ability to see the world anew, Bogoroditskaya comments.
An excellent student knows everything, but he can't always go beyond it, the teacher adds. But a person with dyslexia, like Agatha Christie, or with unusual thinking, like Albert Einstein, might get low grades in school, but this would not reflect their real abilities in any way.
— But a two—year-old is most often an unmotivated or disappointed child. Sometimes the reason for poor grades is family or school pressure, sometimes it's unrecognized psychological or medical problems," Bogoroditskaya explains. — A two—year-old is not necessarily a lazy student, but often a person with "wings down" who has lost faith in his own strength.
According to Bogoroditskaya, grades are important only insofar as they teach a child to understand that the world evaluates results. But you can't build your entire emotional life around marks.
— One of my colleagues said a wise thing: "Don't be happy with a five and don't be upset with a two." This rule applies not only to school, but also to life itself," the teacher sums up.
How do entrepreneurs evaluate school knowledge?
Meanwhile, according to a survey by the accounting department for business "My Business", the majority of entrepreneurs were good, about a quarter studied for C's, and only one in ten turned out to be an excellent student. The rest call themselves uneven students — those who could get both a two and a five — or "charismatics" who were helped by the ability to negotiate, not cramming.
The study showed that school played a significant role in shaping business habits. Two thirds of entrepreneurs (67%) believe that their school years have helped them in life and business. Almost half (45%) admitted that basic knowledge was useful in their profession. At the same time, according to businessmen, the school provided not only knowledge. She taught discipline and working on time (20%), developed the skill of negotiating and finding a common language with people (17%). Only 13% said that they had to learn everything all over again, and 3% believe that excessive cramming hindered development.
According to the respondents, consistency and discipline confidently took the first place among specific school skills that were useful in business. Almost half of the respondents (48%) chose this option. A quarter of the survey participants (25%) called the ability to get out of difficult situations important, and one in seven (15%) — the ability to look for non-standard solutions.
"The discipline and consistency that we were taught in school are not just healthy habits, but the foundation of financial stability. It is with them that the ability to manage money, deadlines and obligations of a business begins. At the same time, the ability to find a way out of non—standard situations is what often distinguishes an entrepreneur from a performer. The main thing is that resourcefulness should be based on calculation and responsibility, especially financial responsibility," My Business noted.
The study showed that excellent students, good students, and C's have different views on business, risks, and their own achievements. Excellent students (13%) are more likely than others to develop businesses in education (25%), manufacturing (19%) and finance (13%). For them, order and consistency remain the main thing: 87% of respondents from the group named this skill. One in ten (12%) noted the ability to understand complex issues without outside help.
The largest category of entrepreneurs are good-looking (53%), the company emphasized. They are more likely to open businesses in the service sector (34%), finance and accounting (16%), retail (13%) and construction (11%). Consistency (53%), leadership (19%) and the ability to look for non-standard solutions (16%) are considered their main skills. Every fourth good person is sure that success comes to those who know how to maintain a balance between work and rest.
Triples (22%) are more strongly represented in IT (28%), manufacturing (23%) and retail (18%). Their main resources are resourcefulness and the ability to get out (46%), communication and the ability to present ideas (21%). Almost half of the triples (47%) believe that people of their mindset are more likely to succeed because they are not afraid to take risks and try new things.
"Uneven students" (7%) are more likely to start a business in the service sector (36%) and retail (29%). Their strengths are flexibility (42%) and the ability to make quick decisions (28%). One third of the respondents in this group believe that success is a matter of chance.
"Charismatics" (5%) are represented in IT (33%), construction (25%) and manufacturing (17%). Their main asset is the ability to influence and negotiate (57%). At the same time, two thirds are sure that success largely depends on circumstances.
In general, according to experts, the survey showed that it's not grades that win in business, but experience, flexibility, and the ability to make decisions in an uncertain situation. The main thing that school provides is discipline, attention to detail, and teamwork.
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