8 reasons why the worst students in school sometimes do better in the future than the most studious

During childhood, many have heard the following phrases from their parents: “You can only get a 10” or “You need to try harder”. And when they came home with a lower score, like a 7 or 8, they got endless sermons about how they should have studied harder. As life often shows, however, high grades in school don’t say much about what that child’s future will be. How many times have you met people — who used to be very studious students — who are now working at a company run by that student who only made a mess in the back row?

We, from awesome.club, we decided to consult psychologists to try to understand why this phenomenon happens and what it could be related to. At the end of the post, we prepared a bonus: a story about getting low grades shouldn’t always be seen as a disadvantage. Follow!

For most studious students, grades are an indicator of success and synonymous with achievement. This mentality, however, does not allow us to understand that any result is subjective and depends not only on the amount of knowledge, but also on other factors, such as the relationship with a certain teacher or even his mood on the day of correction. The “less studious” do not expect proof in the form of school grades. In pursuit of their goals, they are often guided not by the approval of outsiders, but by the inner satisfaction provided by a certain activity.

Hard-working students find it important to make a good impression on teachers. Therefore, many try to flatter and raise their hands even in the most boring classes. On the other hand, kids who don’t get good grades don’t have that same need to impress. They must, of course, respect superiors, but no more than that.

As experience shows, after becoming adults, both types of students will demonstrate the same respective behaviors with their potential bosses and co-workers.

Many so-called “nerds” — even after they finish school — continue to be guided by the rule “if you want to do something well, do it yourself”. Since school days, such students have sought to do their best and control everything within reach, while the other students — the lazy, not hardworking, or sloppy ones — have sought to use the skills of others as needed (“I’ll stick to Pedro’s math test, and Aline’s chemistry test”).

In adulthood, both maintain the same principle: some believe that they can do everything alone until they burn out. Others delegate tasks to their subordinates or colleagues without much effort.

In psychology, the term “perfectionism” is a disorder in which many people build their lives based on the principle “if it is not to be perfect, it is better not to do it at all”. Living this way is quite difficult, as it is impossible to achieve perfection in absolutely everything. Those with this mentality can end up in jobs with no prospects, just trying to do their jobs better, or, even more, they run the risk of never doing what they really enjoy for fear of failure.

An example: “A guy studied with me at art school. He drew well, but he didn’t try very hard in later years and was consequently expelled without earning any diploma. Neither this event, nor the criticism he received for his first works, prevented him from becoming one of the most famous graffiti artists in Russia. Today he receives orders from all over the world. If he was a perfectionist — always worried about grades — his talent might never have been exploited.”

Students who don’t get good grades usually don’t force themselves to do things that are unpleasant and — to them — don’t make sense. They focus, therefore, on what really interests them. On the other hand, “A-10” students often run out of energy to always keep their performance at peak.

Subsequently, the following phenomenon may occur: “Exemplary” students end up putting too much effort into things they don’t like in adulthood—whether at work or in toxic relationships.

The story of Ivan Meetin — founder and owner of the cafe “Ziferblat” — clarifies this logic well: “I changed schools seven times and I was a terrible student in all of them. I had no pleasure in studying certain subjects, like all exact sciences. When I found out in high school that I could fail one subject a year, I simply stopped taking Algebra classes. I liked to read a lot on my own and studied various subjects that gave me pleasure. I also need to say that I was only able to use the internet from 1994 onwards — until then, no teacher even knew what it was. Therefore, I spent most of my time on the internet, playing, walking and reading”.

While many spend hours on the pages of textbooks — to pass the tests with the best grades — the “worst” students spend their free time on other things: reading, sports, music, dancing.

Many psychologists say: children who are too studious have difficulty relaxing, as they live in a constant state of tension – both intellectual and psychological. Unfortunately, this behavior is extended into adulthood — when it can generate more serious problems — such as anxiety and irrational fears of not meeting the expectations of the environment in which they live.

For many children, getting an “8” or “9” would be synonymous with failure, as if they had ruined everything. People like this usually deal with frustrations in a much more painful way and the slightest failure can be seen as a great tragedy. In contrast, students who get lower grades are more used to dealing with this feeling, which makes them see failure not as the end of the world, but just another obstacle to be overcome. This therefore allows them to adapt more easily to stressful situations.

Those who move between the lowest grades learn to enjoy the moments and take risks more easily. Their future is not decided and, therefore, they allow themselves to dream more, live without many plans and accept their own mistakes.

If students with this profile decide, for example, that they want to change majors in college, they will probably do just that. This fact can happen mainly because people like that are used to hearing their own voice more than the opinion of others.

“Dear students who get low grades; dear students who are not very successful in education systems; dear ‘class shamers’, this message is for you. It’s time to show what they do better than others: making mistakes, breaking the limits of established social impositions and questioning the status quo. Even the best students can learn this from you. For all of us, these skills will be needed more than ever.

The year 2020 showed that things do not always go as planned and, therefore, we need to be creative and resilient in our solutions. We need new methods like we need air. Innovative ideas are often the result of mistakes — made by those who are not afraid to make mistakes. It will only be through stumbles that we will reach the solutions that our world so yearns for.

Confucius already warned: ‘May God not make you pass through the age of changes’, but the philosopher was also liable to error. There is no better time than transformation. It is at this moment that people can realize themselves and change the course of historical events. These are not my words, but those of the poet Fyodor Tyutchev. But that’s not important. It’s not important to know, it’s important to act. In short, I’d say there’s only one unforgivable mistake: throwing your hands in the air; to give up; try nothing and do nothing. So lift your heads and move on!

Yours sincerely,
Natalya Vodyanova” — one of the highest paid Russian supermodels in the world who did not finish high school.

The important thing, in reality, is not to take anything “with fire and iron”. Studying is essential, but other skills are also needed in adult life. Do you know what the messiest student in your class at school is working on today? Comment!