Are you a self-directed student?

Becoming a self-directed individual is one of the major goals of education in society. As a student, you are expected to show that education is impacting positively on your personality by doing the right thing at the right time from the right place without waiting to be told what to do. Your conduct in and outside school enables the public to determine whether you are attaining education or you are just passing through the school system. Education should help you to set goals to become self-reliant. I would like to urge you to consider yourself as someone who is capable of guiding yourself on what you ought to do other than waiting to be pushed along by the school administrators and teachers. It is embarrassing for you to be ushered all the time. If you are self-directed, you wake up in time and prepare to go to class for the day’s lessons. You do not have to wait for the authorities to wake you up. It is just a matter of setting your alarm so that when it sounds, you hastily get out of bed and prepare to go for studies. In future, you will be required to wake up on your own and report for work. When you are in the classroom, you have to prepare psychologically for all the lessons so that the teachers find you when you are ready to learn. It is wrong for you to chat endlessly as you wait for the teacher because he may come when your mind is already focused on other issues and you will not be able to follow what is taught.A self-driven student pays maximum attention in class. He asks questions when he feels that there is something that he has not understood and he does all assignments in time. He also avoids doing things that put him on a collision course with the teacher. The teacher plays a key role in the learning process and he has to be given due respect so that he delivers knowledge to the desired levels. You should not wait for him to ask you to be orderly.Consulting teachers regularly is one of the common traits of a learner who is focused and self-directed. Teachers enjoy guiding students who approach them seeking assistance. Therefore, you should take the initiative to interface with them. Do not frustrate your chances of attaining academic excellence by keeping a distance from your teachers.The library is there for you to revise the lesson notes and do research to deepen your understanding of subject content. Whenever you go there, you have to be silent in order to benefit. If you engage in conversations with some of your peers from the library, it means that education is not helping you to direct yourself to do the right things.You should guide yourself to attend all the lessons and you have to resist any sort of temptation from your peers to dodge lessons. If you succumb to pressure from them, you ruin your chances of becoming an independent minded person in future. Why should you be dependent on the bad tendencies of some of your colleagues? Such fellows do not want you to grow mentally and be able to take independent decisions. If you are self-directed, you know that noise making during prep time is uncalled for and it contradicts the fundamental values of education. That time is for you to do assignments and prepare for lessons, tests and examinations through revision and research. The bell should always remind you of your obligations. It gives you a sense of direction. Therefore, whenever it is rung, you have to act swiftly because time is limited. Otherwise, education should help you to become responsible and self-reliant as you prepare for adult roles.The writer is a teacher at Riviera High School