Tuesday, February 7, 2017

What Makes A Successful College Student?

On Wednesday, February 1, Dr. Tim Wardle presented a picture of student success, as experienced at Furman University, to our Upper School faculty.  Dr. Wardle is a professor in the Religion Department at Furman University.  He holds a B.A. from Wheaton College, an M.A. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Ph.D. from Duke University.

Dr. Wardle began by setting the context of the presentation.  He referenced that he had conducted an informal survey of his fellow faculty regarding the traits of freshmen who were considered successful in college.  He initially presented the idea that student success varies according to the setting, but that he and his fellow faculty found three consistent traits present in those college students who handled the initial rigors of college as freshmen.  As a K5 - 12 Grade school, he suggested that these three traits were what most students needed to be successful in college and life. 

Dr. Wardle suggested that first trait is curiosity, which is about asking big questions that demand serious thought.  He suggested that curious students are motivated by big questions which force them to think deeply about self and one’s interaction with the world.  Schools who prepare students who are curious are schools that ask big questions of their students and themselves.  Ends are not seen as conclusions, but instead as beginnings.

The second trait is academic humility.  Educators have many roles, but one of the more important roles is helping students understand their place in relation to knowledge.  Humility is understanding that the more you know the more you realize how much you do not know. Successful students learn for learning’s sake and not just for a grade.  A focus only on the grade is a pragmatic end to a means and more in line with academic pride than humility.  The school, as a whole, models academic humility through a faculty and staff who are life-long learners, open and transparent and intellectually curious.    

Dr. Wardle’s final trait is that of forward thinking.  The idea of forward thinking is rooted in two areas; who students are and what they can do.  Who we are dictates how we move forward. Sometimes, the best thing an educator can do is to keep the standards high and push students to meet those standards.  Dr. Wardle was clear; where you set your standards will matter greatly to your school and to your students. Once you have done this, you must decide what students can do.  Schools need to determine the skills students need to develop in college and beyond.  Dr. Wardle presented three skills that he felt were vital to success in college and in life.

1.     Active critical reading: college students are expected to read with a critical eye, follow a line of thinking presented in text and ask questions related to the text. This is vastly different than reading for pleasure.
2.     Writing as a process: college students are expected to write continuously therefore writing is a process and not an event. Writing is continuous revision.  College students must be able to write good, clean papers that are grammatically clean and present clear concise thoughts in response to the text. 
3.     Attitude of openness: college students are expected to be open to new and diverse ideas.  Dr. Wardle suggested that if you know what you believe, you can examine other ideas without fear.  Students who enter college with a clear, deeply rooted worldview tend to be those who engage new ideas without being swayed by them.  

Dr. Wardle concluded his comments with a final thought.  Educators are those that disciple and teach students, but more importantly, educators are those that push students toward excellence in ways that do not allow them to settle for what is good.  Our goal at Shannon Forest Christian School is to prepare our students for college, life and eternity.  Dr. Wardle’s comments reinforced who we are and provided motivation for us to continue our pursuit of excellence in all that we do as a school.   


Our vision is to educate and equip students to pursue excellence and impact the world for Jesus Christ.  This is Shannon Forest Christian School.