Seven Valid Reasons Why Students Fail

There is a common misconception that when a student fails a class, it comes down to their lack of preparedness, commitment, or laziness. This is almost never the case, and the reason a student fails falls outside of these three narrow targets. Here are seven valid reasons why some students fail:

Lack of Self-Confidence and Increased Indecision

If you are suffering from confidence issues, chances are you will be ineffectual at whatever task you are trying to complete. You will not be able to make a split decision or just trust yourself to do something right. This mentality can affect students’ studies. Your young adulthood is a time of extreme social pressure, where your confidence can fluctuate rapidly. Chances are, there are multiple times during this period where your confidence will be very low. That can lead to failing a class if you do not rebound, which a lot of students don’t due to a rejection of help or feeling of anxiety.

Too Demanding of a Schedule

Especially when you are in high school, due to the pressure of college looming on the horizon, students do everything they can to load up their schedule, so they will look more impressive on a college application. The unfortunate byproduct of this loading up of the schedule is that they leave themselves susceptible to academic folly. Smart students’ have their grades slip because they are trying to do too much and not paying close enough attention to their in-class studies. If there was less pressure applied by colleges as far as what they need from you on an application, this would not be as much of a problem.

Not Getting Enough Rest and Relaxation

When you are young, you really underrate the merits of a good night sleep. Younger students think they need to use their day to its fullest potential, staying up to one o’clock in the morning, hoping to squeeze as much socializing, studying, homework, and free time into a day as they can. Unfortunately, this lack of rest leaves students groggy the next day. If they have a test or quiz early in the morning before they can wake up throughout the day, it is likely they will not produce on said test or quiz, due to exhaustion.

No Connection with the Material or Teacher

How often do students ask in class how something they are learning is going to affect their life? This is not some stock question students like to use to rib their teachers. There is something to why everyone asks this question; it is because they have not been given much of a reason to care. This disconnection between the student, the material, and the teacher is a major reason why a lot of students falter. Adjustments should be made to engage students more in the material they are being taught, which will lead to fewer students failing.

Lack of Desire

Unfortunately, there is an ennui settling in with the youth of America today. The detached irony is more in vogue than actively engaging with one’s life and education. This apathy toward studies is born of a thought that education has a very little bearing on success later in life. This leads to a lack of a desire and very little care to what their grades look like. There is some kernel of truth here, as young people have shown little care for their studies for a while. But, the more engaging subject matter may increase students’ desire to succeed.

Collapsing Under Enormous Amounts of Pressure

As I have detailed at many points, there is an overwhelming amount of pressure placed on the heads of high school students. They want to succeed academically, so they can get a good job or go to a good college. But, what if they fail? There is always that possibility, so what then? This question leads to that exact failure they fear. Students no longer see success as a possibility but merely a way to avoid a bad future life. With a change in attitude and less pressure applied to their future, students should have a much easier time succeeding in school.

A Chaotic Home Life

The easiest way for your school life to crumble has very little to do with the school itself; it has everything to do with what happens after the final bell rings and before the first bell rings. If your home life is in disarray, it is nigh impossible to focus on your academics. Every thought is consumed by the struggles going on at home. Depending on how bad things are, how is one supposed to focus on chemistry when potential life-changing events (in a negative way) are on the horizon?