PRACTICAL TRUTH TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Academic excellence has to do with what we ought to do—that is, the activities we need to carry out regularly to improve in our schoolwork until we become extremely good at it.

Steps to that excellence are based on real facts, are feasible, and must be carried out. They are devoid of any sort of sentimental or emotional ideas that are not realistic. They work for anyone that does them, rather than being ideas that a person may have about how academic excellence

might be achieved.

They include the do-able aspects of academic excellence that we ignore most of the time because we are too busy with the spiritual aspects. We neglect the practical aspects that ought to be taken seriously.

We need realistic expectations concerning what we do so that we do not have extreme expectations— that is, expecting God to do what He never really said He would do. The Bible says, “Even so faith if it hath not works, is dead being alone” (James 2:17 KJV).

Abraham, the father of our faith, showed us a good example. God told him he would become a father of many nations, and God changed his name from Abram to Abraham and also his wife’s name (Genesis17:5–15). Abraham means “father of many nation.” This showed he believed God. But Abraham did not stop there. He did not go around saying, “I am a father of many nation” without a corresponding action.

What did Abraham do? The Bible says that he did not consider his body dead or the womb of Sarah barren. So he went in and lay with his wife, so they could have Isaac. If he had stopped at the level of name change alone, Isaac wouldn’t have come forth.

Dear brothers and sisters, what we call faith sometimes is not faith at all; it is just mere wish or, at best, presumption—a high expectation based on wrong information that is usually followed by a wrong corresponding action.

Some Christian students get that kind of wrong information. They lay their hands on their books (some would go as far as standing on their books and making decrees), but refuse to read them. In the end, they fail. By the time they realize it, they are already in their third year in school with a lot of failed classes. The practical truth when it comes to overcoming your books is that you must study.

Your faith must be based on the Word of God . No Word, no faith! If you have the Word of God and faith, that faith is dead without a corresponding action.

One of the pastors that mentored me told me of his experience while he was a student. He had a friend, a believer, who went to God in prayer to seek His face concerning his academics. The friend came back and told him that God had given him a word that he would be the head and not the tail. As a result, he started reading his books ferociously.

My pastor just said, “I will be the head and not the tail,” but did not study hard. My pastor’s friend did excellently, but my pastor did not do very well. During the next session, however, my pastor went to God for a word, which he received, and he backed it up with a corresponding

action. He emerged as one of the best in that session. If you really believe that God will make you excel in your academics, you definitely need to study your books.

Faith makes you work. Most lazy Christians try to avoid the work aspect. But we must come to the point where we realize that we must do something. We have a part to play in the matter. God expects us to work. You have to give your all; fire on all cylinders. You can take authority over your books, which I’m not against, for I do it myself. But if you don’t read, calamity is coming on you, and you will fail. If you read, you will know! It’s that simple.

Faith is not in any sense an opinion; religion is. The apostle Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13 KJV). Th is alone is a source of motivation to press forward. Don’t be lazy. Motivate yourself. Some say that religion is the

opium of the people, but when the Bible says I can do all things through Christ, that is a motivation, not opium. Let Christianity be an opium to you when it comes to doing what is evil. Let the Bible motivate you in doing what is right.

To lead an effective Christian life, you must be able to bring the Word of God into a place of practicality. Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith Church, once said that the problem he noticed in Christians is that there are many revelations but little or no manifestation

because of lack of application, which leads to the destruction of so many.

A practical truth of academic excellence is that facts work the same way for anyone who will get involved in them. Good success comes from balancing the spiritual with the physical, which is practical.

REVIEW: THE PERFECT SCHOLAR

BOOK: THE PERFECT SCHOLAR
AUTHOR: JIMOH BRAIMOH (JR)
PUBLISHER: WESTBOW PRESS, 2014, xv + 117 pp.
REVIEWER: GABRIEL ARISHE, LL.M; Ph.D; B.L; DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC LAW, UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, BENIN CITY, NIGERIA
   INTRODUCTION
Complains about poor performance in school by students in Nigerian educational institutoin is now commonplace. The reasons for the endemic failure in examinations and the poor capacity of graduates from our tertiary institutions have ranged from incessant strikes by teachers, poorly motivated teaching staff, obsolete teaching aids and facilities, and a host of other reasons. While the hues and cries of poor academic performance in Nigeria is not necessarily over-hyped, poor performance in schools is not peculiar neither is it limited to Nigeria. Indeed, school drop-out due to drugs, gangsterism, peer pressures, etc are common place in North America and in Europe. Poor academic performance is not unheard of in those continents. The prevalence of poor academic performance globally, though failure rates might differ across the continents, points to the fact that majority of students are far from being the perfect model of studentship. While a lot of studies have been conducted on how to reverse this trend, and in fact, books on making students better in their studies have been written, the desired change appears elusive. There are academics devoted to the specialised study of educational psychology and other related disciplines to enable students cope with academic pressures and study. In spite of research findings and implementations from the works published in such areas, every day experience points to a diminishing return in terms of students’ performance in key subject areas and at school generally.
The Perfect Scholar perhaps is a bold attempt to fill the gap in the quest for an enduring solution to poor academic performance globally. While previous efforts at redressing poor results in school focused more on personal efforts alone, Jimoh Braimoh (Jr) brings into focus the centrality of God, the Almighty Creator of man, in the quest for success. Without Him academic success and indeed every other success is vain. The foundation to the author’s whole concept of success in academics and in life, therefore is to become first a Christian, put God in one’s study, and work hard in line with divine principles because God is not lazy either. I cannot disagree with this insightful perspective because the author having earned a First Class Honours in his first degree capped with a Master degree from Europe is perhaps letting us into the path he trod to his academic accomplishments. The specific principles on how to become highly successful in academic pursuit and how to apply them are the compelling information you would find in The Perfect Scholar.
The title of the book is highly suggestive of its thematic preoccupation: it is about a student; but not just the average student; it is about the student that earns high grades. The author was one, now in a highly scintillating prose he tells us how to achieve this.
APPRAISAL OF CONTENT
Apart from the preliminary pages, this book is structured into six chapters. Chapter one reveals God’s positive agenda for everyone’s academic pursuit and further dispels the notion that failure could be an act of spiritual consciousness towards God or His work. As a follow-up to this latter contestation, chapter two takes the reader through the practical ways to achieve academic excellence. Contextually, divine support could have formed part of chapter two but given its centrality and significance, the reader is made to see in a separate chapter: three, the inevitability of the God factor in the quest for academic excellence.
Chapter four will be the delight of any inquisitive reader. It is entitled: ‘Why some Students Fail.’ The reasons adduced by the author are Fear, Overconfidence, Bad Omen, Anxiety, Lack of Composure, and Lack of Concentration. The reader who has not followed chapters one to three might be disappointed that failure to attend classes and study hard are vital omissions from the list. They are not. Prompt attendance to classes and a diligent study life have already been discussed in chapter two as pathways to achieving academic excellence and they form part of the discussion in chapter six.
Chapter five gives invaluable tips on time management, while chapter six explains how to prepare adequately for examinations.
Each chapter ends with study questions while the entire book ends with prayer points on academic success. Aside the known fact that prayer is indispensable to one’s success in life, the allusion to spiritual attack on academic pursuit, including the author’s narration of his personal experience during one of his examinations in his undergraduate days makes the prayer point in the book a necessity.
  CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
The strength of this book lies in its down-to-earth approach. It conceals no facts and does not beg the question in any areas. I have found it to be a book so well written in easily comprehensible prose and style. In addition, it is in very clear prints and well bound to international standards. I am not surprised at this given the status of the publishers and printers who are reputed for high quality academic publishing. My genuine impression is that this book is an invaluable source of knowledge and information that can propel any success-thirsty individual into higher productivity. I will therefore recommend this book to everyone, including students, parents, academics, researchers, businessmen, etc.
This book is worth having on the shelf, for it is worth more than the cover price.
Thank you.

THE INSPIRATION BEHIND MY BOOK

I’ve seen a lot of graduates whose performance is far below what they are capable of. Obviously, because they are unable to discover and put into practice some doable facts that can make them achieve excellence in their academic pursuit.

When I was a student someone told me that “if you aim at the sky, you might fall on the roof”. On hearing this, I went outside and took a good look at the sky and the roof. And I came to the conclusion that if land on the roof it either you really were not aiming at the sky or you really don’t know where the sky is, because they are both miles apart.

By the grace of God, I made a First Class and it’s those things that I did that worked for me that I put together in this book to help others and I am sure it will work for anyone who is careful enough to do them because they are proven.

In this book, I balanced spirituality with practicality to achieve academic excellence. I have observed over the years that students are caught up between these two dichotomies, i.e. the ones who are so “spiritual” and see no need to add work to their faith and the ones who work so hard and see no need for God. Both extremes can be avoided and a balance stroke. The ways to do this are contained in this book.

As a matter of fact, you cannot be a perfect scholar until you are able to balance spirituality with practicality. Until the mind and the heart meet. You can be bright in the mind but darken in the heart. Records have it that Adolf Hitler and his men had PhDs but the show no restraints when it was time for them to kill innocent Jewish babes in mass. They were bright in the mind but darken in the heart.

A perfect scholar is bright in the mind and bright in the heart. When this is lacking, a scholar uses his knowledge against humanity but a perfect scholar strikes a balance between both extremes and use their knowledge to help humanity.

To wit, The Perfect Scholar aims at teaching young ones how to achieve academic excellence and to remain relevant to their society afterwards.

Jimoh Braimoh (Jr) can be contacted at jimoh.braimoh@uniben.edu (08135832572). Copies of his book can be ordered directly from him, through booksellers or online at http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/products/sku-000704438/The-Perfect-Scholar.aspx 

WHY SOME STUDENT FAIL: THE LACK OF COMPOSURE FACTOR

Lack of composure : The inability to keep calm is referred to as a lack

of composure . It is the feeling you have when you are upset. You are

unable to keep your cool.

While anxiety comes on you during a test because you are in a

hurry to put down what you know, lack of composure often occurs

if you don’t plan your work or prepare for an exam. When you don’t

have a worked-out and concise plan for approaching a question or you

don’t have enough ideas to develop because you aren’t prepared, your

composure diminishes, and your work will be disorganized. It will

portray that you are confused, because it will lack organization.

To this effect, a lecturer once said, “When I come across such

writing, I go back to read the question I gave to see exactly what I

asked.” This shows that a confused answer can, in turn, confuse the

examiner to the point that he forgets the question he asked.

Adequate preparation is a key to preventing a lack of composure .

But no matter what you know and what you put down, if it is not in

order, you will confuse the examiner, and there is no way you will pass.

What you say is as important as how you say it.

WHY SOME STUDENTS FAIL: THE ANXIETY FACTOR

Anxiety is a state of uneasiness or tension caused by apprehension of possible future  misfortune, danger, etc.; worry. Anxiety can come upon you when you are worried or uneasy or very eager or in a hurry to answer a question . You become nervous

and jittery. The problem is that you lose control. You begin to make

unpardonable and unnecessary mistakes—even in a subject area you

know well. You will be perplexed at the sort of errors you make just

because of anxiety.

To successfully deal with anxiety, “be careful for nothing; but

in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your

request be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passeth

all understanding , shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ

Jesus” (Philippians 4: 6–7 KJV).

From The Perfect Scholar by Jimoh BRAIMOH (Jnr)

WHY SOME STUDENTS FAIL: THE BAD OMEN FACTOR

This can also be referred to as bad luck or bad company.

You almost have no control over this. For example, when the results of

a whole class’s exams are withheld because of cheating , everyone who

took it—both those who were involved in the cheating and those who

were innocent —suffer. Little wonder the Bible says, “Be not deceived;

evil communications corrupt good manners ” (1 Corinthian 15:33 KJV).

A bad omen situation is something you don’t see coming. It just

befalls you when you least expect it. Here’s an example: One day, during

an exam, a lecturer asked me to tell him what the two female students

who were sitting right in front of me were doing. I could not give him an

answer that satisfied him, because I knew nothing. I was just minding

my business in the hall. He took my answer booklet along with those

of the other students and asked us to leave the room.

This could happen to anyone, but we can overcome with prayer .

Jesus said , “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit

truly is ready, but the flesh is weak (Mark 14: 38 KJV)”. I pray that

such a thing will not befall you, in Jesus’ name. This happened to me

when I was not yet born again, and it can surely happen to a child of

God who is not very prayerful. However, it is one of the ways students

encounter failure .

From The Perfect Scholar by Jimoh BRAIMOH (Jnr)

FOUR THINGS A FOOL CAN DO TO YOU

1)    A fool will weaken your focus.

2)    He will slow your life.

3)    He will waste your time on futile fix and

4)    Make you to disbelieve God.

WHO IS A FOOL?

-         A fool is one who despises wisdom and instruction.

-         Anyone who refuses to depart from evil

-         Anyone who reveals secret.

-         Anyone whose conduct doesn’t change even after experiencing painful consequences.

-         A fool spends more than he is willing to earn.

-         He creates his own believe system contrary to God’s word.

-         He focuses on financial increase instead of God. 

UNDERSTANDING THE LAWS OF LIFE

Life is govern by laws; both physical and spiritual laws and principles. The spiritual controls the physical. Money responds directly to some spiritual laws and principles. For it is He i.e. God that giveth thee power to get wealth. There is a spiritual empowerment from above that money response to. Understanding and pitting these laws and principles to practice will help one to get desired result.

Law of visualization:  what you can see in the spirit, you can handle in the physical. You can create your future by speaking into the present.

Law of promotion: you can only be promoted by someone whose instruction you follow (obey).

Law of reproduction: You can only reproduce yourself!

Law of seed: Whatever you have in your hand can create whatever you desire in your future.

Law of recognition: What you don’t recognize remains celebrated.

Understanding the laws of life can catapult you from darkness and obscurity to light, from lowness to high place and from poverty to riches.

WHY SOME STUDENTS FAIL: THE OVERCONFIDENCE FACTOR

While fear makes you perform below your capability, overconfidence, which is an excessive trust that you can do something successfully, can make you fail also.

          When you believe too much in yourself, you soon begin to underestimate God and others—even those who are in a position to help you. If you do that, God will no longer be on the scene in your life. Arrogance will become the norm. You will not care about other people’s feelings, thereby hurting them even when you are right. You will become repulsive. Grace will no longer follow you. And you will do things out of context. When you are asked a question that requires a simple answer, out of arrogance and the desire to show off, you will give an elaborate and exaggerated answer. Your intent is not to give an answer but to prove that you have knowledge, even when it is not needed. So you end up saying what is relevant and what is irrelevant. This sort of thing seems to happen to people who do not learn that they can help others; instead they intimidate and oppress others. They first want to show that they know better and are therefore superior.

          To overcome this, you need the grace of God to be humble. Proverbs 3:5–7 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”(KJV) Someone asked me some time ago how an exam was going to be. I answered, “We are looking unto God.” He replied with great surprise, saying, “People like us are calling on God, and you too will be calling on God?!” He expected me to depend on my intelligence. But an understanding of the Word of God had delivered me from such a trap. Even when you know something, “don’t be wise in your own eyes”; depend on the help of God to make the task easier for you, or you will end up messing things up for yourself.

WHY SOME STUDENTS FAIL: THE FEAR FACTOR

A student was asked why she failed. She answered, “I failed because I was afraid.” Somebody once defined fear using the acronym FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real.

Fear is the feeling you get when you think something bad is going to happen to you. It brings tension, anxiety, and even torment. It can make you unable to articulate what you already know. It can paralyze you, because you already expect the worst to happen. It causes you to be against yourself when nobody is against you.

The Bible helps us to understand that fear is a spirit of bondage and that it is not from God: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15 KJV). “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV). Elsewhere, the Bible says, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1 KJV). We do not have the spirit of fear and bondage but of boldness and liberty.

Fear is an evil spirit. It is an enemy to your destiny, because it can make you perform far below your capacity. It takes away your confidence, composure, and courage and turns you into a coward.

The general overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor E. A. Adeboye, said in one of his sermon, “You can overcome fear by doing what fear asks you not to do.” Now, that is called courage. Disobeying the voice of fear! You can also overcome fear with the Word of God. Faith is the opposite of fear, and faith comes by hearing the Word of God, but when you focus too much on your challenges and your past failures, fear takes root in your heart and rules over your life. It can be seen even in the words you speak, “…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”(Matthew 12:34 KJV) But when you mediate on the Word of God and the possibilities that God can bring your way, even in the midst of the challenges, confidence and hope will take root in your heart.

Scriptures like “I can do all things” and “I know the thoughts that I think toward you  are thoughts of good and not of evil”. “You are the head and not the tail”. “And this is the confidence that we have that he that has started a new thing in your life will bring it till the day of Jesus Christ.” And, above all, “all things work together for your good.” You hear that? “All things” not “some things,” not “pleasant things” but all things, for not all good things are pleasurable.

The Bible says that those “who live only for pleasure are spiritually dead” (1Timothy 5:6 TNLT). Fasting is not pleasurable, but it is very profitable to us spiritually, physically, and mentally. Studying is not pleasurable either, but it develops the mind. Fear is capable of truncating your destiny by making you fail even when you are good enough to pass. Therefore, confront it with the Word of God.

FROM

The Perfect Scholar by Jimoh Braimoh (Jr)

Why Some Students Fail

Failure is the opposite of success. Despite the fact that almost everybody wants to succeed and no one wants to fail, many still end up failing. They fail, not because they are not good enough at what they do or they did not study enough for exams or they did not do what they were supposed to do, but because of some other reasons.

It is vital to point out some facts, especially for those who have experienced failure in different areas, for those on the verge of experiencing it, and those who will eventually experience it. Just because you failed doesn’t mean you are a failure! Failure is nothing but an experience you went through. It is not you, and you are not it. A failure today does not mean that you will never succeed in that thing. So don’t let failure get you down.

The simple fact that people fail when they don’t want to and when they don’t need to makes it imperative to identify some things that lead to failure for us to tackle them, especially in situations where we have done all to succeed.

Some Reasons Students Fail

Fear: A student was asked why she failed. She answered, “I failed because I was afraid.” Somebody once defined fear using the acronym FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real.

Fear is the feeling you get when you think something bad is going to happen to you. It brings tension, anxiety, and even torment. It can make you unable to articulate what you already know. It can paralyze you, because you already expect the worst to happen. It causes you to be against yourself when nobody is against you.

Fear is capable of truncating your destiny by making you fail even when you are good enough to pass.

Overconfidence: While fear makes you perform below your capability, overconfidence, which is an excessive trust that you can do something successfully, can make you fail also.

            When you believe too much in yourself, you soon begin to underestimate God and others—even those who are in a position to help you. If you do that, God will no longer be on the scene in your life. Arrogance will become the norm. You will not care about other people’s feelings, thereby hurting them even when you are right. You will become repulsive. Grace will no longer follow you. And you will do things out of context.

Bad omens: This can also be referred to as bad luck or bad company. You almost have no control over this. For example, when the results of a whole class’s exams are withheld because of cheating, everyone who took it—both those who were involved in the cheating and those who were innocent—suffer. Little wonder the Bible says, “Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthian 15:33 KJV).

A bad omen situation is something you don’t see coming. It just befalls you when you least expect it.

Anxiety: Anxiety can come upon you when you are worried or uneasy or very eager or in a hurry to answer a question. You become nervous and jittery. The problem is that you lose control. You begin to make unpardonable and unnecessary mistakes—even in a subject area you know well. You will be perplexed at the sort of errors you make just because of anxiety.

Lack of composure: The inability to keep calm is referred to as a lack of composure. It is the feeling you have when you are upset. You are unable to keep your cool.

While anxiety comes on you during a test because you are in a hurry to put down what you know, lack of composure often occurs if you don’t plan your work or prepare for an exam. When you don’t have a worked-out and concise plan for approaching a question or you don’t have enough ideas to develop because you aren't prepared, your composure diminishes, and your work will be disorganized. It will portray that you are confused, because it will lack organization.

Lack of concentration: Most students are easily carried away with what is goings on around them. This causes them to lose focus on their goals, aims, and aspirations.

During exams, students are often distracted by fellow students who ask for their assistance. In the process of trying to help, they abandon their own work. By the time they return to it, their concentration is poor, and they have to try to catch up with where they left off.

Courtesy:

The Perfect Scholar by Jimoh Braimoh (Jr)

This blog post will not be complete without your contribution. Please kindly add any reason why you think some student fail even when they ought not to.