Historically, the term ‘student’ referred to anyone learning something. However, the recent definition of a “student” is anyone who attends school, college, or university. Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders, and their qualities clearly determine their future.
Who is a good student? What are the qualities of a good student? Based on my personal experience and research, I list below the qualities of a good student:
(1) Attitude: Basically, a good student possesses the ability and willingness to learn new subjects even if they are not interesting.
(2) Academic skills: Acquiring academic skills is the most important quality of a good student. The ability to read comprehensively, to write effectively, to speak fluently, and to communicate clearly are the key areas in which a good student must be proficient. Having skills in all these areas will make a student shine in class.
(3) Ability: A good student has the ability to apply the results of his or her learning in a creative way and achieve goals.
(4) Perceptiveness: How well a student can interpret and perceive meanings from a conversation greatly determines the quality of a good student. A good student always perceives the right meaning from a conversation, but an average student often misunderstands the original thoughts of the speaker or writer and derives a wrong conclusion.
(5) Self-Discipline: Discipline in managing time is an important ability that every good student must possess. Delaying tasks, such as writing assignments, reading text books, etc, may negatively impact the ability of a student to achieve his or her goals.
(6) Understanding rather than memorizing concepts: Many surveys suggest students must understand concepts rather than just memorizing them. Memorized facts and theories will stay in students’ memories until they leave school, college, or university, but once out of school, the students will completely forget the core concepts that they learned. Therefore, it is essential that a good student understand the concepts.