AM I STUPID? by Asha Deevon

          “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it’s stupid”, said Albert Einstein once. So, I came across this picture on facebook a few days back which correlates to this.

This just got me thinking like throughout the day. I just zoned out and my mum kept yelling at me to get the house chores done. And even when I’m sweeping the floor, I can’t get this picture out of my head! Trust me, I don’t know why either. Maybe my boyfriend is right. He keeps telling me too, saying girls overthink about the wrong things sometimes. But this ain’t the same thing, lover boy. Besides, it’s not we who overthink. It’s guys who underthink things, making us angry and then claim that they have no idea whatsoever, WHICH makes us even angrier. But no worries, you’re kindda sweet too all the other times where you really do make smart choices.  J

Anyway, back to the topic. “Am I stupid?”  Well, to be honest, I have been asking this question to myself way too often that I’ve lost count. If I could get a dollar to every time this happened, I would have been rich by now. I’ll just get myself a house, a car, a baby panda and I’m done for in life. But I have a feeling that I’m not alone on this. Some of you who are reading this would probably be like “Dudeee, that is so freaking me! Hey, guess what? You’re not alone!

Previously, I would have had a different response towards what I’m about to say. I mean in high school I always thought that kids who fail in their exams are complete failures in life. In short, stupid. But I treat them all the same though. No disrespect or anything that sort. I’ve just always wondered how they’re going to make it in life if not for their education because that was how I was brought up to believe in. A little concerned was how I would put it. However, as I grew up and got to learn much more about life, I found a whole new perspective about all of this. To start with, we’re all familiar with our education system in Malaysia, right? They focus mainly on the academics, the student’s grades. Yes, grades are indeed very significant. But to be fair, we students didn’t really had a choice in the education line that we wanted to learn. At least not up until we entered university or upper secondary, which I think is a bit too late. All throughout primary and lower secondary, we have learnt what the government wants us to learn. There is no variation, for us to choose. Everybody learnt the same subjects, regardless of our interests. Those who excel in this criteria are looked upon by others and those who don’t? The total opposite.

It’s sad to think that the society lives by this principle in their head. Are you one of these people? Well I hope not.  Because let me tell you this. Intelligence is so much more diverse than what appears on an IQ test. In fact, there is not one but EIGHT types of intelligence that we should all know. (Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Musical, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalistic) I just went a zoomzoom to Thinking skills lecture. My point is, you just have to figure out who you really are and where you fit in. For that, we need a proper education system and of course, time. Once you have found what you’re interested in, without doubt, you are bound to get good results. Damn, I should be running a campaign about this. Hahahahah!

 Do you think everyone can sing? How about dancing? Drawing portraits? Sports? Modelling? Are you all in one? If no, why not? Are you considered stupid then? Of course you don’t want to. Then why is it that when someone who is not academically inclined, are quick to be labelled as stupid by the society? We can’t see the potential or talent that is yet to blossom in someone at first glance. These kids are just not exposed yet to the things that they are meant to be doing. Like musicians. Music classes aren’t provided to all schools. If you want to pursue in that, you need to find it elsewhere which adds to extra expenses. However, not all students are blessed enough to afford that. People that you think aren’t going to get anywhere might end up surprising you on where their talent brings them. Where their intelligence brings them.

There is also another reason why people have this self-doubt that they’re “stupid”. They compare themselves to themselves. Does that makes sense? Well, continue reading anyway. I believe this happens to everyone. This sense of insecurity within us. People tend to think that intelligence is a universal thing. If you are good at something, you are undeniably good at all areas. This is also called the “Smart Person Fallacy”. I know, I’ve never heard of it before as well. You can google it up though. Anyway, when we find ourselves unable to process something, or if we make a normal, careless mistake, we tend to compare it to the things that we do with ease. That is in fact human’s nature to do so. But we fail to realise that the things that we complete with ease now, were once things that we struggled with. Like math for instance. When I moved from kindergarten to primary 1, I fought with my dad with all the strength in me saying “1 + 2=  NO CAN DO” “Why” he asked. “Because 1 is smaller than 2, daddy”, said little Asha, thinking she’s smart, not knowing that she is in for a big whacking session from her dad in a little while. Now however, I love anything related to math and calculations because it challenges my brain.

I don’t know what’s your definition of stupidity. It differs, depending on the individual and that’s very understandable. If you ask me, I would say feeling stupid is feeling disappointed in yourself for failing to live up to an unrealistic ideal about your knowledge on things or how to do things. In reality, smart people do dumb stuff, and people who are less intelligent do smart things too. The ultimate point is everyone does stupid things sometimes. But that isn’t a reflection on our actual intelligence. It’s simply a matter of being ignorant of something or yet to being experienced, and it can’t be compared to the things we do well. Instead, we should considerate a moment to learn something new or do something better next time. Find our inner intelligence. Revel in the opportunity to expand ourselves and become a better person than we were before. Now, ask yourself. Are you stupid? I don’t think so ;)

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"The Power of Reading" - By Joe Mabor Agany, ICT, Foundation 3rd

“In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds but into my own. I learned who I was and who I wanted to be, what I might aspire to, and what I might dare to dream about my world and myself”

Anna Quindlen  

What attitude do you have towards reading? Do you want to be successful in university or in your life in general? Although a few people get pleasure from reading, many take it as a burden and never dare to read at their will. But do these people know what reading can do for them? They may know that reading can make one successful and wise but they ignore it due to bad attitude towards reading developed at early age.  Many of us hate reading in schools’ probably because we struggle to memorise what our teacher give us in order to pass exams but not to gain knowledge for our own good. The continued improvement of quality of human life is done through learning and reading is learning. Without learning there is no progress in our life. It is therefore important to understand the power of reading in our life process.

Reading enhances our academic performances in school. Students who like reading usually perform much better than those who see it as a burden. Ask any A student what makes him or her an A student and he or she will most likely tell you one answer which is common among his or her group; he or she reads a lot. Although there are many factors for success in school, one cannot be lazy to read and expect to perform well. Many students who perform poorly in schools are made to believe that they are dumb and that those who perform highly are born genius. In my former high school, a classmate came to me after our exams results and emotionally told me that I was so fortunate have been given a better brain. I told her that we have the same brain and that if she had put in more effort to study before the exams she would have performed better. There are many stories of students who once performed poor in school later turned things around and became top performing students in their classes. The living example is the retired renowned US Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Republican Dr. Ben Carson. Dr. Ben was at the last rank of fifth grade class and his classmates called him dummy but after his mother required him with his brother to read two books a week, he was top of his class within a year (Think Big, Dr. Ben Carson). Ben, the dummy of his class later made history in 1987 by separating Siamese twins joined at the back of the head. He says in his book, Think Big, that books are the mechanism for obtaining knowledge, as opposed to television. If there is one thing you can do to improve your academic performance, get your nose into the books.

More importantly, reading can change one’s bad psychology. Some people grow with a poor mindset that can hinder success in all aspects of their life such as their profession, relationships, business or health. There are many psychology books that can help one to change his mental outlook which were written by great achievers who once experienced the same attitude towards life. Jim Rohn confessed in his Best Ever Training that he was always complaining and blaming everything bad that happen in his life on other factors such as government, economy, and the community. After changing his psychology through books, he became a billionaire. He believed that self-education is very necessary in order to succeed as he said it in one of his famous quotes: “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune”.  Personally, I was a terrible negative thinker who would stay up in bed all night thinking about how miserably I may fail in everything I was to do. This negativity really affected me badly in many aspects of my life but through books I now look at how I can succeed in my undertakings and imagine success instead of failure. I have read quite many books which have enabled me to look at things in different perspective. If you are kind of person that only think of the worst things that may happen to you, I recommend you to read one of my favorite books in this genre, “The power of positive thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale.

Lastly, another important dividend of reading is self-discovery. As I quote from Aldous Huxley “There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self”, self-discovery is the most important step toward a successful and meaningful life journey. If you don’t know who you are and what you want, you will live in confusion which causes frustration and unhappiness. This happens because if you don’t know your personality, how you think and perceive things, you will always compare yourself with others and act like them which will automatically cause frustrations as you won’t never be like them because you are a different person. Anna Quindlen put it in her quote: “In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds but into my own. I learned who I was and who I wanted to be, what I might aspire to, and what I might dare to dream about my world and myself”. So in books you travel deep into yourself and discover your strengths and weaknesses which are usually surpassed by our ego. Knowing your strengths and weakness enable you to use and exploit your inner strengths fully and minimise on your weaknesses.

In conclusion, we should develop a good attitude toward reading not in during school era but also throughout our life. There are many important of reading but a few of them are enhancing academic performance, changing bad psychology and self-discovery. The common character among high performing students is that they enjoy reading. Our psychology is affected by where we grew up and as such we may develop a negative mindset that will hinder our progress in life but through reading and learning we change and develop a different new good mindset. More importantly, we should discover our strengths and weakness in order to know where to improve or minimise.  I believe that each of us can tap into his or her ability to read and get the pleasure of continuous learning which also make him/her a valuable asset to the society. 

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"THE SUCCESS THEORY" By Rekshavan Mani Maran

“Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure, and loss only act as motivation “

   Success. Just the sound of the word makes you want to say it twice. Well, maybe it’s because we all want success that badly in our lives. Success from the start of our human evolution all the way through centuries and centuries of development and modernization has come in many different forms and magnitude. Ask a student and he would say success is topping his class with flying colours. Ask a hiker and he’d probably say conquering Mount Everest is success to him. Success may be small or big but the outcome, the joy it brings is indescribable. Why is that so? Why is success so significant to our sentience? It’s because success isn’t achieved overnight. It is a planned, organized effort that is put into months, years or even decades of hard work to achieve our ultimate dreams and goals. It’s the product of what you’re capable of, your significant contribution to the society or even a chance to prove your worth to the people around.

     Success has without doubt become the ultimatum in our lives but unfortunately with every passing generation, a cage, a wall in fact has been built around it. People nowadays no more want to push the boundaries of success but instead want the mainstream which they feel is enough. A simple example would be teenagers of the present era. Teens nowadays limit themselves of their capability, altogether minimizing their scope of success. With advancements in the ever rapid-growing social standards and lifestyle, teenagers only care more of what society perceives of success instead of creating one for themselves. Teenagers often confine success in terms of the grades they should be scoring, whether their clothing impresses everyone and of course, how much fame they get from their peers. This carries on to tertiary education level where this teenagers end up once again in the mainstream package. They care less on pushing the boundaries of their talents and perceive success as getting a degree, finding a job and settling down. This is indeed saddening as along the way, we realize how many talents are wasted. Talents that could’ve led to many more success stories. I’m sure we ourselves have gone through or are going through this. We feel as though we can achieve more but are afraid to step out of the border in fear of losing what people want for us. How many of us have given up on our passion or our dreams just because it seem too far-fetched?

  I believe that true success is when someone is willing to go beyond his or her limits in order to achieve a certain goal. It is when a person works their way through blood, sweat and tears and along the way bringing along people to achieve their own goals. When a person wants success so badly, the should be willing to dedicate time, prioritize their activities even if it means missing out on a few occasions and above all, stay motivated despite all the hardship life throws at them. It is without doubt that success should be defined by an individual in their own perception and not entirely what others want to see. It should be a target, a mission an individual is willing to give their all, in order for their own satisfaction and happiness. Everyone deserves a chance to not only explore themselves but to venture into the unknown. We need to start breaking the walls around us and be brave to garner new knowledge and talents, to use all this skills to good use in helping others and to contribute to the society. Only then I believe is success truly achieved.

  Leaving aside the perception of success nowadays, one bags the question. How is success truly achieved? While there isn’t a definitive answer, I believe the road to success begins with love. As much as love seems like a cliché’ answer, it is love in the form of passion that drives us forward. The love to continuously strive for improvement and enhancement. A simple example would be an athlete. An athletes has to continuously put in hours and hours of work on and off the track despite various setbacks such as injuries. His love for the sport gives him the desire to achieve more success and work for it. It is love that gives us the driving force to propel forward, to be able to withstand any pain and still keep our heads held high despite countless failure. Asides love, exploration is important for one to achieve success. It doesn’t matter if you’re going read a new book, meet new people during a party or even try a new musical instrument As long as you’re trying something new and beneficial, you’re exploring and even better, learning. A successful person never limits themselves from learning above all, they always find a way to apply the skills obtained into work. Another important aspect to being successful would be determination. You may have passion, you may want to continuously broaden your talents but there will always be times where your will power is tested. Tested so much that you being to wonder if you really can achieve your goals to become successful. That when you’ll need determination. The belief, the trust that you can do it. That you are capable of overcoming any obstacle to get to the top of the mountain. Determination is what every individual needs, a pushing factor to become successful. There are more aspects to obtaining success in life but love, exploration and determination will surely if not entirely, aid you towards it.

  The denouement of this article is simple. Success is a journey. A journey you craft as an individual whether since young or even in your late 60’s. It is a journey filled with many ups and downs that we as humans must uptake. Never confine your capabilities. Be ferocious at heart, to always want to feel and learn more but always be subtle in mind, to carefully plan and organize your pathway in realizing your goals. Every individual has a success story they are bound to craft one day. The question is, how are you going to craft that story?

  

 

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