With a new academic year just around the corner, I thought it was time to address the topic of how to achieve academic success. This is not because I'm an expert, but more because, I have actually failed academically, twice over, in the past! I thought it might be helpful to those of you who are just starting out in night classes or college, to see what kind of events sabotaged my earlier success, and why I succeeded third time round.
To my mind, there are three main things required for academic success;
1) a natural aptitude for learning, writing and book work
2) determination to succeed
3) a solvent, safe and supportive home environment, conducive to studying
The first time I went to college was in my teens, when I started A-Levels. I was studying History, Psychology and English Literature. I enjoyed the subjects and seemed to be getting on quite well with the course. My mother and I were going through a typical 'not getting along' phase, and so six months in to the course, I left home and rented a flat. Suddenly, I had all my own bills to pay and the student grant didn't nearly cover it, nor did a part time bar job. I worked out that I needed to work full time to cover basic living expenses, but I was already a full time student. Something had to give.
So I dropped out of my A-Levels and took on a full time job, in a nursing home, in order to support myself. A few months later, my then fiance, who was unemployed and on the dole, moved in with me. I took on a second job, working behind a bar, so that I could support him too! This was a youthful mistake I would not make again, but that's love. Thus ended my first attempt at academics.
About a year or so later, with said fiance now finally in full time work, I tried again, much to my fiance's disgruntlement. Although we still couldn't afford for me to give up work entirely, I wanted to return to education, so I took on a part time job in a pharmacy and applied for full time study. Now in my twenties, I was able to apply for a degree, but because I didn't have A-Levels I had to prove my intelligence, with three interviews, an aptitude test and an essay on why I deserved a place on the course. Thankfully, I passed all these criteria and I was offered a place on the Cultural Studies degree.
I loved this course! I was studying Psychology, 20th Century History, Art History, Poetry and Prose Fiction of the 19th Century with an emphasis on the Gothic novel. It was right up my street and I enjoyed all my classes. It would be fair to say that I began to blossom - but not everyone was pleased to see it.
My fiance, who had more issues than Vogue, became increasingly difficult, sneering at my studies and uni life. He also began to actively sabotage my chances of success, by tearing up my essays and burning my class notes in the garden when I was at work. This was back when essays were hand written, so I had no alternative but to rewrite them as fast as possible. I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with myself, just to keep up with the course. I was hiding my work, so he wouldn't find it. I didn't talk much about university because it would cause arguments. Of course, now I can see that he was plain jealous of the fact that I had a life he couldn't share - academics was never his strong point and he'd dropped out of school without a qualification to his name. So he decided he was entitled to hold me back...and it worked.
I endured all this for the first year of my degree. Then the course itself changed. Some of the modules I was doing were discontinued, including Poetry and Prose Fiction. I was offered Sociology and Political Ideology instead, but I had no interest in such subjects. What's more, these new modules would have given me a Combined Studies degree, not the Cultural Studies degree I wanted, and which I thought was my best chance of becoming a published writer. The odds were clearly stacked against me.
After many tears and much soul searching, I took the decision once again, to drop out of the course. My fiance was thrilled and smug, but his victory was short lived - I called off our engagement a year or so later. We split up and I've lived alone ever since. Lesson learned. Big lesson learned! Those you love, do not necessarily want you to succeed. Thus ended my second attempt at academics - and my relationship to boot.
In both these examples, it is clear to me now, why I failed. I simply didn't have the solvency, or the secure home-life needed to succeed. It's hard to pay for text books when you are struggling to buy groceries; it's difficult to concentrate when there are lots of arguments going on in the family, even if they don't involve you; it's impossible to succeed when you are living with a saboteur.
Skip forward to 2013 and I was tentatively considering going back to college - again. My past loomed over me like a dark cloud; I had after all, earned myself the reputation of a drop-out and I knew people's eyes would be rolling at the first mention of me going back into education. Could I do it this time round? I was self-employed as a writer, with a bit of money in the bank; I worked from home so I didn't have an external job to get in the way; I lived alone, so I wouldn't be sabotaged and there would be no arguments to contend with. With no-one at home, there was no-one to get in my way, pull the rug out from under me or hold me back. Surely then, the odds were finally stacked in my favour? They were; I successfully completed five years of studying, to become a psychotherapist.
But it did prove to me that a safe, secure home-life is essential for academic success. This is just as true for children of school age, as it is for adult students, if not more so. As the back to school frenzy begins this month, take some time to consider if you are providing all that your children actually need to be successful in school. They won't do well if their parents are constantly arguing in the back ground; they can't concentrate if the TV is always on or if they are hungry.
Alongside the shopping trips for pencil cases and uniforms, think about providing a safe, secure place where they can study in peace; take them snacks as they do their homework; keep younger siblings from annoying them as they try to work. Remind them of their capabilities. Support their ambitions, their dreams - don't allow the adult lives of the parents in the house to cast shadows on the academic success of the children.
And if you are an adult considering going back to education yourself this autumn, take stock of your life to see if you have all the support in place that you're going to need. Can you afford it; is your home-life safe and secure; are your loved ones likely to be supportive? If the answer is yes, then I hope that you have an enjoyable study experience. If the answer is no, maybe it isn't the right time just now, and your time will come later, as mine did. Or perhaps there are adjustments you can make that will create the right environment for academic success.
There is no doubt in my mind, that those people who went smoothly from school, to A-Level, to university, to career, supported by loved ones all the way through, have been truly blessed.
But if this isn't you, it doesn't mean that it's too late. You will bring more to your studies from your life experience and you will have developed the resilience needed to succeed. I'm glad I went back to college when I did, because it means that the black cloud of my previous academic 'failure' has been blown away, once and for all. My graduation looms on the near horizon instead and the eye rolling has stopped!
If you are returning to education this autumn, then I wish you all the luck in the world. Bon Chance!
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