Due to the copious amount of freedom and latitude to make choices, many students in the university fall into the trap of making the following mistakes:
- Forgetting about God
It is amazing of how spirit-filled and God-oriented students matriculate into the university, and it is a wonder how they misplace God in their equation of life at the cost of the pleasures and pressures of the varsity life. At the onset of their stay in the university, a majority of the students seriously attend spiritual forums such as the Christian Union (CU) and are committed to its activities. Sooner or later, some of the students equate God to a raincoat – only in use during the rainy season, during tough times and climes of adversity. Students should prioritize God in their lives and daily endeavours, never should He be an afterthought.
- Poor time management
Henrik-Jan van Der aptly states, “Time is the scarcest resource in any organization. Unlike money, it passes with every second and you’ll never be able to earn it back.”
Besides the stipulated class schedule, a great number of students lack personal schedules. They easily flow with the current of available activities. Commonly, they respond to tasks at the verge of deadlines. Precisely put, they lack goals. A goal-oriented student plans their time for study, social interaction, spiritual growth and leisure. Each night before sleeping, students should pen down activities scheduled for the next day; not forgetting their order with time allocated for each activity.
- Falling into peer pressure
Lack of self-principles makes students fall to the whims of peer pressure. What your friends are doing may be right, but is it important to you at the moment? Is it urgent? Here comes the vast difference between you and your peers; a priority to self may not be a priority to a friend. A student should set their priorities right and align their activities to the order of their importance and urgency to avoid being carried away by the negative influence of peer pressure. Remember, it may be important, but not a priority. Strictly, decide the course that you want your life to take and use it as a road map. Never be a feather that can be blown in any direction.
- Cohabiting
Here comes the deadlock. Is it right or not? Scrutinizing the outstanding text by Robert T. Kiyosaki, ‘Why ‘A’ Students Work for ‘C’ Students and ‘B’ Students for the Government,’ you will find out that life has ‘3 Windows (phases)’ of learning;
First Window – Birth to age 12; Second Window – Age 12 to 24; and Third Window – Age 24 to age 36.
The second window is called the ‘rebelling window’. University students fall under this age bracket. Majorly, students know with certainty that God designed sex for married couples but still object to that fact. Curiosity takes the better part of them involving them in life accidents which at times result in lifelong casualties. The best alternative is to clad in self-control. Be guided by self-principles.
- Drug and Substance Abuse
Born omnivores but competing with herbivores; Khat and the likes, of what help are they? Sniffing and injecting non-medicinal drugs, of what help are they? I partially ‘concur’ that there may be a slight feeling of satisfaction, but only temporal. It is common for students to attend mega parties during weekends to steam off, but others overdo it in the process. Consuming alcoholic drinks and other substances causes more harm than gain to the body. Actually, they interfere with your mental acuity.
- Laziness and Lassitude
Finally, some students busy their bodies with immense laziness as if gifted. Maintaining high standards of hygiene is an issue while others get tired even before starting a task or an assignment. Such are usually readily available to cling to other student’s hard work. Such students never want to tire their brains with thinking; which is highly classified as hard work.
Students should realize that these pitfalls are guaranteed to distract them from realizing their individual potential. They should wake up and strive to be honourable students who will leave the university with a superior mindset than when they joined.
By Daniel Muinde
The writer is a student at The Co-operative University of Kenya and a public speaker.
muindedan30@gmail.com 0723882891
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to read more informed opinions on the country’s education landscape
