HE SUCCEEDED SO HE COULD FAIL
How Initial success can lead to future failure.
Rex is a 400 level student of the department of electrical/electronic engineering of the university of Benin, Nigeria. He had what we would call a steady climb through the ladder of success, throughout his first three years in school.
His first year was good, but was not better than his second year, and his second year was not as good as his third, in fact, the outcome of his third year is the whole essence of this article.
Through sheer hard work, he was able to make a 5.0 in his second semester. This was a giant spike in his pursuit as an engineering student. When asked how he made such an outstanding result, he attributed it to luck. I wondered if others who made lesser grades were born without luck (and by others, I am included, we were course mates and still are).
The result of his first semester as a 400 student (that is the next semester after his victorious 5.0), was a historic disaster. His grades fell from the roof — I am still wondering how it all happened.
Was it because there was nowhere higher in the ladder of CGPA he could climb?
(5.0 is the highest CGPA for universities).
His GP literarily fell to the ground; he was nowhere near a second class upper (second class upper is 3.5 -4.5); remember we are talking of the same Rex who was a 5.0 scholar in the previous semester.
On talking with him (or should I say on interviewing him), he lamented his state and blamed his poor results on the fact that he made a 5.0 in the previous semester and as a result was lazy and thought that he has gotten to the promise land and therefore every other result will be the same.
Then I wondered, can initial success cause future failure?
I haven’t gotten my head around it yet, I would love your contribution.
Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
