Living A First Class Life With A Third Class Degree 2 Chapter 1: You Deserve What You Go

make you sad or make you feel worse than you are

presently. It is a statement of fact. Irrespective of how you Tfeel about it, the truth must be told; YOU INDEED DESERVE WHAT YOU GOT.

You got a third-cla.s.s result because you deserve a third-cla.s.s

result, or better put, you worked for a third-cla.s.s result. In all

labour, there is profit, so says the Holy Book. If your labour was

worth a first-cla.s.s result, you would have gotten one. Accept the

fact, it is needless to fight it now; what you laboured for was what

you got.

A number of reasons may be responsible for this. You may

indeed have all the excuses tenable in the world and acceptable

to the heavens why you got a third-cla.s.s result. It does not still

change the fact that you have graduated with a third cla.s.s, and

that you deserve it.

Some of the reasons may be that –

- A particular lecturer did not like your face on campus, and so

influenced your results negatively.

- You were sick during the final exams and so could not

concentrate fully in the examination hall.

- You did not have enough funds like some of your cla.s.smates

to bribe the corrupt lecturers on your campus and so could

not get the additional marks that some of your mates bought.

- You could not afford to buy the necessary study materials,

you only had to manage your cla.s.s-notes and the limited

materials you had access to, and this affected your

performance in the examination hall.

- You had some serious challenges from the home front which

debarred you from giving your academics all it needed.

- Examination questions came from chapters you did not

consider important enough to read. To your detriment, the

examiner intentionally decided not to set questions from the

part of your note that you have read inside out.

- The Examination Invigilators were too strict. They did not

allow you to execute your carefully laid out plans in the

examination hall. No talking, no shaking, no exchange of

scripts, no looking sideways, no moving around, ... ... .... the

rules were just too much.
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- This year's Examination Marking Scheme was too tough. It

was worse than last year's. If you were a.s.sessed based on the

previous year's scheme, you would have fared better.

- The Examiners were not lenient with questions. The

questions were not only too much but also too tough. There

was no way anyone could have answered them all in the

given time.

- Your heartthrob broke your heart just before the

examination, and this was a serious distraction to your

preparation for the examination.

- You had a weighty spiritual problem that needed urgent

attention but you could not spare out time to address this

before the examination started.

- Your background affected you. Your parents never

appreciated education. They do not even know the

difference between a first cla.s.s and a third cla.s.s since they

did not attend a higher inst.i.tution themselves. Therefore,

they could not encourage you enough.

- You had other important things doing that took much of your

time. You were a sportsman on campus. You were into

campus politics. You were doing serious money-making

business on campus. You were too involved in religious

activities in school. etc.

- Your parents were not fully supportive. There was nothing

you ever requested from them that they gave to you when

you needed it.

- You had a serious financial crisis during the examination.

- You were not cut out for school. You were forced into it. You

would have done something more important with your time

if allowed.

- Luck was against you.

All of these excuses are irrelevant and not needed again. Excuses

are self made imprisonment. Do not imprison yourself with one.

What matters now is to face the truth squarely - you have failed in

school; and you failed because you deserved to fail.

Left to you, you really think you tried your best!

- You did all of your a.s.signments and submitted them at the

required time.

- You did all the experiments you were supposed to do in the

laboratory and wrote your report on time.

- You attended all of the lectures and practical sessions

required of you.

- You read all of your notes for the tests and prepared well

ahead for the exams.

- You even attended tutorials organized by your cla.s.smates,

extrmoral cla.s.ses by the lecturers, and borrowed study

materials both from friends and from the school library.

You did your very best, and you expected a more brilliant result

than this. But the expected result never materialized. The reason

is simple; your best was not enough to sail you through the

torrent of the examination storms. You worked as hard as you

could, but things did not just go as planned.

You really think some of your cla.s.smates deserved to fail

because they did not put in as much effort as you did; but not

you. Your case was different; you tried your best. Sad to think,

those whom you think deserved to fail woefully ended up

performing far better than you did. They did not prepare well

enough, but they pa.s.sed. And you cannot still explain why, of

everyone in your cla.s.s, you should fail!

The truth is that you are the only one who thinks you have

offered your best; your lecturers think otherwise, the examiners

think otherwise, the invigilators think otherwise, the school

authority thinks otherwise.

Your opinion, no matter how hard you hold on to it, does not

count in the face of so many expert criticisms. So, they can only

be right, and you can only be wrong; you deserve what you got.

Admit your failure. Trying to pretend you got better grades will

not help you. It is self deception of the highest order. Tell

yourself that you have failed from the higher inst.i.tution because

you graduated with a third-cla.s.s degree. Say it to yourself a

thousand and one times until it sinks into your subconscious.

This will help you to face the reality and do what you really need

to do.

It will not make too much sense wasting your precious energy

trying to cover up the failure. It will not work. Face the facts;

admit your failure. Do not pretend to be what you are not.

Putting on a Superman's garment does not enable you to fly; it

only gives you an overblown a.s.sessment of yourself.

A wolf in a sheep's clothing is still a wolf. A third-cla.s.s graduate

pretending to be a first-cla.s.s graduate is still a third-cla.s.s

graduate, no matter how hard he pretends. Do not claim to be

what you are not; you have failed from school, and there is no use

denying the fact. It is even already too late to change the

situation; you are already a third-cla.s.s graduate. So the earlier

you get use to it, the better for you.

This is not to say you need to start broadcasting round the whole

school or your neighbourhood that you have failed again; there is

not much wisdom in this. Just be yourself and let things happen

whichever way life has planned it. Do not try to hide the fact or

overprotect it. Let nature take its natural course.

DO NOT EXPECT TO BE CELEBRATED

Since most people around you do not believe you deserve much

more than you got, do not expect them to sympathize with you as

much as you desire. They will not celebrate your failure simply

because you think you tried your best. This may, or rather, this

will, in most cases, never happen. Let not your expectation be too

high, people do not celebrate failures, no matter how close you

are to them, and irrespective of the excuse you have for the

failure!

No one will cheer you up for graduating with a third-cla.s.s grade.

If you expect to be cheered, you are expecting too much, and

your expectation will certainly be cut short. This is just natural.

People do not cheer up those who fail. Only the man who wins

gets the accolade.

None will celebrate you for failing:

- Not your parents, all the money they spent on you is now

wasted; at least, that is how it looks to them.

- Not your lecturers, you made them look as though they do

not know how to teach. You would have been their pride if

you have shown to the world that their student is a genius.

- Not your cla.s.smates who expected you to be smarter than

you proved to be. If anybody should fail, it should not be

you. They knew how they went about it and expect that you

also should know how to go about it if you know your ability

is not adequate.

- Also, not your younger ones, you did not set a good example

for them to follow, and they cannot boast of you in the midst

of their own friends.

- In fact, not your friends, they are highly disappointed in you.

They expected far much more.

- Definitely not your senior ones who will never understand

why you have to go for a third-cla.s.s grade when there are

better options, especially if you are the first in the family to

get that low.

Your parents may become mad at you. They may withhold some

rightful privileges from you. Take it in good faith. It would not

have been so if you had done better than this. That is their best

way of expressing their displeasure to you.

It will be rather unfair of you to expect them to rally round you in

jubilation of your third-cla.s.s grade as though it were a firstcla.s.s.

They are disappointed in you and they have a right to

express their opinion the best way they feel they can. They have

a right to their emotions.

So, do not try to pick quarrels with anyone who does not identify

with you in your woes. You will do worse if you were in their

shoes. This period is like a trying moment for you and you will

need to brace up to face the challenges.

You may even be unlucky enough to have around you people

who naturally rejoice greatly at the failure of others. There is

nothing you can do about them. You can only be yourself, learn

the best from where you are today, and pray for a better life

tomorrow to prove to them that you are indeed not what they

think you are, life was just playing a trick on you.

Since you deserve what you got, you need not blow your head off

because of what you got. It is too late to cry over spilled milk.

Lamenting alone will not help you at this moment. It will not take

you any further than where you are.

You may see others in your shoes grieving uncontrollably when

they remember the time, energy and resources they had wasted in

pursuing the academic degree. However, shedding tears, either

genuinely or in pretence (so as to gain others' sympathy) is not

the solution to the problem at hand. It will only help you waste

more time, energy and resources.

Contrary to what you think, the past few years you spent in

school is not wasted. The essence of going to school is not

necessarily to graduate with good grades alone, although this is

an essential part of it because of the community we live in.

If you view the essence of going to school from the perspective

of merely graduating with an excellent result alone, you will see

yourself as a failure. Going to school is much more than that.

What you learn from school is beyond the academic

qualifications alone. There are other benefits you get from going

to school. Some of these are:

1. You learn basic fundamentals of different teachings and

various skills.

2. It enables you to make more effective use of your mind.

3. You learn good communication skills.

4. You learn how to relate and live with other people who

have different beliefs and ideas.

5. Lastly, being a student helps you to be self-disciplined

and behave more maturely.

19

Living A First Cla.s.s Life

If you view going to school in this light, you will agree that the

past few years are not wasted years. You may not see the benefits

now, but they are like investments made into the future. When

the time comes, you will really appreciate G.o.d for letting you

have the experience of going to school. It will give you a serious

edge over others who have never been to school, open many

doors of opportunities to you, and give you a better placement in

life in whatever field you finally decide to settle down to.

BLAME NO ONE

The greatest temptation at this point is to begin to look for whom

to blame for your predicament. This is very common among

students facing the challenges you are presently confronted

with. When they perform well in an examination, they acclaim

the glory to themselves by saying 'I pa.s.sed the examination'.

However if they fail, they attribute the failure to the examiner,

'The lecturer failed me'.

Do not fall for it. Do not blame anyone else for your failure. The

problem is with you and until you discover it you will not move

forward. The lecturer did not fail you; you failed yourself,

irrespective of what your excuse is for failing. To justify

blaming your lecturers for your academic failure, you can as

well credit them for your success in the exams.

Every student who has ever failed has excuses for his failures.

These excuses are the boundary between them and their success.

Whatever excuse you have, you cannot be excused. You have

failed in school, and you need to look for what you need to do

early enough so as to do better in life. That is all that matters

now!

You cannot blame your lecturer; if you were the best student in

your cla.s.s you would have still pa.s.sed even if he hated you much

more. It is your weak points that your lecturer capitalized on in

order to fail you. No one can make a failure of you unless you

cooperate with him. You have cooperated with him by not

preparing adequately.

You cannot blame your failure on your background. There are

people with worse backgrounds but with better results. Your

progress in life is not determined by your background but by

what you do despite the background.

You cannot blame it on the lack of relevant study materials. If

you do not have enough funds to buy textbooks, you could have

borrowed copies from friends or from the school library.

And if you had other things doing that took your time, you could

have planned your time more properly.

You are indeed inexcusable. Every other factor notwithstanding,

you are responsible for your failure. The earlier you accept this

fact, the better for you.

However, although you have failed this once, you are not yet a

failure. Men are not regarded as failures until they admit it

themselves, and the first signal to show they have admitted

failure is that they start blaming someone else for their actions.

The moment you begin to look for who to blame for your failure,

you are already becoming one.

Irrespective of the cause of your failure, always remember that,

those who designed the failures of yesterday are not in control of

the success of tomorrow. So, sit up, take the blame, learn the

lesson, and make progress.

G.o.d IS NOT DISAPPOINTED IN YOU

Know this for sure; nothing catches G.o.d unawares. Whatever

happens, He knows about it. Sad as this may sound; G.o.d knew

afore-hand that you may not fare better than you did, and He is

prepared ahead of time to help you sail through it successfully.

He is not disappointed in you.

Your parents may not be too happy with your result, considering

how much they had spent to see you go through school

successfully. It may also not go down too well with your siblings

whose expectations had been cut shot. Your friends might be too

ashamed to still identify with you; but G.o.d is not disappointed in

you.

G.o.d looks at things in a different light than man does. This is

because man is easily impressed by the wrong things in life,

neglecting the things that matters.

G.o.d does not view people the way others see them. He sees them

in a different perspective. Man saw Moses as a murderer but

G.o.d saw in him a deliverer. Jacob was called a supplanter but

G.o.d saw a prince. Abraham was termed barren but G.o.d saw the

father of many nations. Rahab was a good-for-nothing prost.i.tute

but G.o.d saw in her the great grandmother of the Saviour.

Whatever they have said about you is their opinion. G.o.d's

opinion still stands.

Men may write you off, but G.o.d will not: It is not in His nature:

Adam and Eve failed G.o.d's maiden exam on obedience in the

Garden of Eden and could have easily been written off by G.o.d.

However, the whole Bible is a record of G.o.d's plan and effort to

reverse that failure; that is G.o.d for you. He looks beyond the

present into the future in order to correct the mistakes of the past.

Be sure that He is already working out something in your favour

too.

Nothing happens by chance to us; G.o.d has a pre-knowledge of

all that we will ever go through. He may not be responsible for

them though; the unpalatable circ.u.mstance may be as a result of

our negligence, nonchalance or carefree att.i.tude, but G.o.d can

still work around those circ.u.mstances so that His purpose will be

achieved through them.

It really does not matter what your grade is to G.o.d, first cla.s.s or

third cla.s.s. He loves you anyway. He does not use your degree in

school to determine His decree in your life. He is still interested

in you and what you become, irrespective of who is not! He is

interested in everything that concerns you. You are the apple of

His eye! He said your face is even tattooed on the palms of His

hand! So, He can neither neglect you nor forget about you.

Only G.o.d can eternally write off a man as a failure. But He has

not written you off yet. So, why believe what a mortal man like

you has said about you. Whatever any man says is his opinion,

and everyone has a right to his own opinion. Let it not overbother

you.

No one knows your destiny perfectly like G.o.d. Therefore let no

one fit you into another man's mold. No one was there when G.o.d

was commissioning you into the world. So, no one has a say over

your life. Only His word will stand in your life, if you are willing

to permit it.

BE FRIENDLY

You do not have to be moody everywhere you go. Many people

just focus on the problems they are pa.s.sing through, that they

miss the opportunity to meet the wonderful people and great

benefits they see everywhere they go which G.o.d has prepared to

lift them up from their present position to the next level.

Being unfriendly, they miss their savior; they miss the angel G.o.d

sent to them to help them from their predicament. Make friends

daily. Do not be ashamed to meet people because of your

academic qualifications. It is not in the qualification, it is in what

you have to offer.

Grab every opportunity to build fresh relations.h.i.+ps, especially

with those who desires to live a first cla.s.s life like yourself and

not just with anybody.

Do the little things that will attract others to you. Smile, you have

no cause to frown; failing in school does not mean failing in life.

Dress neatly, you are not mourning; only those who are

mourning wears sack cloth. Spray some perfume, it puts you in a

better mood; and you really need to be in a better mood for better

thoughts to flow through your mind.

Say h.e.l.lo first, make the effort to be friendly. You do not know

what G.o.d has in stock for you through the other person. He may

be the angel you have been praying for. The more you

concentrate on your academic result, the more insecure you will

become. To get the confidence you need, look beyond the

certificate.

The worst set of people to have around you now is the set that

criticize every one of your moves and remind you of your past

failure. Surround yourself with men who believe in you. This is

not the time to start forming a pity-party. What you need now is

more of people who believe in your ability. Anything else will

rub off your self-esteem and your faith in yourself. Always have

around you those who will encourage you, cheer you up,

celebrate your ideas and contribute to your progress. These will

make life more adventurous and rewarding for you.

FIGHT EVIL THOUGHTS

Guard your mind; let it not wander aimlessly in circles. Define

its boundary. Constantly resist and rebuke every thought that:

(1) Portrays unreasonable anxiety about tomorrow,

(2) Envy those who did better than you,

(3) Paints hopelessness about your present circ.u.mstance,

(4) Brings guilt about your past errors,

(5) Creates depression and fear of what the future holds,

(6) Produces bitterness towards those you feel are

responsible for your predicament.

Refuse to identify with all the lies the devil may want to feed you

with. Lies like,

* 'You are good for nothing';

* 'You have jeopardized your future';

* 'Nothing good can come your way again since you did not make

a first-cla.s.s';

* 'Your life is ruined';

* 'You are in a real mess '.

All these are lies from the pit of h.e.l.l. He only wants to take over

your mind, do not allow him. Purify your thought. Do not permit

any futile or foolish thought to take charge of you around this

time of your life.

If you allow these negative emotions to overwhelm you, your

life will experience more retrogression, and will finally be

brought to a halt sooner than you envisaged. Do not put yourself

under such bondage.

Such overly sensitive thoughts about the issue at hand will end

up creating a feeling of great insecurity which makes your

weaknesses become more p.r.o.nounced than your strength. Once

your weakness becomes more p.r.o.nounced than your strength,

your doom looms.

This is because whatever dominates your mind dictates your

actions. Whatever dictates your actions controls your life.

Whatever controls your life determines your final end. So, do not

listen to the thoughts that bring you fear, worry, and insecurity.

Those are not from G.o.d. Constant allowance of such thoughts

will erode your self-confidence.

This is neither the time to lose your head nor the time to lose your

faith in G.o.d. If all you do is get anxious and get worried, it will

demoralize you the more, and at this stage, that may be

detrimental to your health. You may even begin to contemplate

on engaging in some nasty actions like suicide attempt simply

because you are focusing on the wrong things.

Graduating with a third-cla.s.s is not the end of the world. Why

will you want to end your life because of that? It has not gotten to

that yet; there is still more to life than a degree from the higher

inst.i.tution. Thousands there are who did not even have the

opportunity to go to a higher inst.i.tution in the first place. What

then should those ones do? Do not let the devil take advantage of

a simple mistake you made on campus to destroy your glorious

future by ending your life untimely. Consciously labor to resist

such thoughts.

A wise man once said "you cannot stop birds from flying over

your heads, but you can stop them from perching on your head".

You may not be able to completely stop such thoughts from

crossing your mind once in a while, especially at a time like this,

but you can refuse to entertain them, resisting them with all

force.

Do not be deceived; the past or the immediate is not the ultimate.

What lies ahead is far greater than what has gone behind. Just be

prepared to fight it out.

Rather than think about what has happened in the past, think

about your future. Let your thought dwell more on where you are

going and what you will need to get there, and not where you are

coming from. That way, you will live a more rewarding life.

The Holy Bible encourages that we should take everyone of

such thoughts captive. You will find this instruction handy at a

time like this. Each time you are tempted to give in to them,

summon enough courage to resist them.

Only entertain thoughts that build up and not tear down. Fill your

heart afresh each day with words of encouragement. Fill up your

mind with thoughts, words, musicals, videos and images that

will build up your confidence again. Watch programs and read

books that will boost your self-image. All these and many more

will help put your life back on the right track.