I will like to kick start this writeup by stating that nobody was created to be a failure, everybody was born with the ability to be great. Dr. Benjamin Carson in one of his interviews stated that anybody can do great things as long as they have brains.
TABULA RASA
This is the state of the mind of every child at birth, a clean slate, what contributes to what they believe – which drives or limits them – is what their family and society feeds them, this plays a great role to their academic performance.
SELF-CONFIDENCE
In their definition, USF.EDU defined Self-confidence as an attitude about your skills and abilities. They went ahead to add that it also includes knowing your strength and weakness well, and having a positive view of yourself. I chose this definition because of the emphasis they laid on “positive view of yourself.”
It all boils down to what an individual says to him/herself, to what they believe they have and not what people say – but this does not mean that peoples opinion holds no water, because it plays a role to how a young minds view themselves.
INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT.
According to very well mind, I.Q is a measure of your ability to reason and solve problems. While some are believed to have a low I.Q, some an average I.Q and others a genius I.Q.
In middle school and high school, most students barely know what they want to be and the direction they are headed, most of their beliefs and desires are fueled by whats they hear and what they see in their surroundings. Which is why we at the BATTLE OF THE MIND believes that at this stage, there is a greater correlation between Self-confidence and achievement than there is between intelligence quotient and achievement.
Meaning that Self-confidence speaks louder that I.Q at this level of life, what people offer at this level is what they believe they have and not what they actually posses. If a child don’t know what he/she is capable of or if they are not taught and helped to figure out what they have buried deep inside, they will end up believing that their well of knowledge is shallow thereby leading them to delivering just a little of what they have.
DR. BENJAMIN CARSON.
Lets take the story of Dr. Benjamin Carson for example. He moved from the class dummy to the most brilliant student in his class, he did not achieve this because he has a genius I.Q, he did that because his mum was able to help him figure out his potentials, by studying and performing better in school he was able to build his Self-confidence, which motivated him to hunger for more knowledge which resulted to more academic achievement. If his mum did not take all the necessary measures to ensure that he figures out what he has trapped inside, we may not have heard about a great sojourn like Ben Carson.
WHAT LIMITS CHILDREN AT THIS STAGE?
At this stage (high shcool to be precise) children are batling not only with themselves but with their family and with the pressure from the society. These are list of what they battle with:
- Abuse (physical or emotional)
- Low self-esteem
- Bully
- Rejection
- Negative comparison
- Lack of affirmation from parents and loved ones.
- Domestic violence
- Poverty (financial and mindset)
All these and many more takes a toll on their mindset, to he that wins the battle, success is assured but to him that gets trapped, the reverse becomes the case.
THE ROLE OF PARENTS AND GUARDIANS.
Parents and guardians need to pay a serious attention to the wellbeing and mental capacity of their children, they need to able determine when their children/wards are being limited in any way and figure out how to get them to break free from that. In the first chapter of his book Gifted Hands, Dr.Carson narrated how his parents separation almost affected him, but was saved by his mother’s intentionality and his pastor – who played a role in forming his character.
There are words these young minds needs to hear from their first role models – their parents. Words like:
- You are loved
- You are beautiful/handsome
- You are smart
- You are able/you can do it
- You are powerful
- I/we believe in you
- You are not alone
- You are the best, etc.
These words may seem simple but they are weighty, they help young minds know that they are accepted and that they are not alone.
CONCLUSION
If these battles of the mind are not fished out and dealt with before they proceed to college, if they should proceed to college with all these baggage and limited mentality (caged mindset) it will be a disaster not only to them but to our society at large.
The probability of them dropping out at this stage is high because they would probably be at the bottom of their class with this mentality. Take Dr. Carson for example, his mum figured out that he lacked Self-confidence and that a lot of his experience and circumstances is limiting him from being the best, she intentionally took it upon herself to see that is dealt with, and that was done before he went to college.
To all parents, teachers, siblings, relatives, neighbors etc, to any young mind around you, we all have a role to play in impacting in their lives and changing their thought process, we all have a role to play if we are to make our society a better one, and no child should be left out, every child is worth taking a chance with.
The beauties of life & family 