Success – a quality that all parents want for themselves and their children. However, let us stop for a moment and define what success is. Is it achieving high scores in coursework and on standardized tests? Is it maintaining a 4.0 GPA? Is it completing all coursework on schedule? Is it ranking at the top of your class in a given subject area?
Success, really, is simply accomplishing a goal. There is a much higher quality to strive to achieve than simply success. Here at the academy we strive for excellence. Excellence is not being the best, but rather being our best.
Excellence, then, differs for every student. Is it possible for a student to achieve excellence while maintaining a C average in their coursework? Absolutely! God never requires His children to be better than the talents and abilities He has given them; what he does require of us is that we use the talents and abilities that he has given us as best we can, striving to do our very best in all that we do.
Often we are willing to settle for success when we should be striving for excellence. Too often we are willing to allow the thought that our efforts are good enough because they seem to please others. We must be careful to follow the biblical principle of doing all things "heartily as unto the Lord" Colossians 3:23.
As parents, administrators, faculty, and staff, we often make the mistake of recognizing success as excellence, and failing to recognize excellence. Which is more excellent—a C student who works hard and makes mostly C's with a couple of B's thrown in or an A student who puts in minimal effort and makes mostly A's and B's? Our minds and practices are geared toward recognizing the A/B student as successful and completely ignoring the excellence of the C student who has performed to his fullest potential and earned B's and C's.
I encourage you to step back and take an honest look at your children. What are they capable of doing? Are they performing to their fullest potential? Are they settling for good enough, success, or even being the best? Are your children achieving excellence? If so, are you recognizing them for that excellence or pushing them to achieve that success? Success is a good thing; excellence is a great thing. Let us all work together to produce ICA students who strive for excellence in all they do.