Most Egyptian families are familiar with the nightmares students go through in order to get the score they need to be accepted into the college they want, or at least some decent alternative. And indeed, there is no guarantee that all the students who get high scores in thanaweya amma will be successful at university — or vice-versa. Many educational commentators have argued that thanaweya amma scores, like test scores in general, do not represent a real measure of a person's intelligence, understanding, capacity for success, call it what you will. Ahmed Shukri is a junior student who scored no more than 60 per cent in thanaweya amma, but was able to get a place to study dentistry at a private university. Although Shukri barely passed thanaweya amma, in college he is consistently scoring A's and B's. “I think it is about the way we learn,” he reflects. “I used to hate memorising and exams in school, but now I am taught in a very different way.” Getting into the Faculty of Dentistry has always been one of Shukri's dreams ever since he was a young boy. He attributes his high scores in university mainly to the fact that the syllabus focuses more on practical procedures than on theoretical issues. And of course, he loves what he is studying. However, not everyone blossoms in this way. Sherif Mohsen, for example, has been through the opposite experience to that of Shukri. Mohsen's scores were remarkably high in thanaweya amma, but now he is at university, he seems unable to repeat his good grades. A sophomore student at the Faculty of Engineering, he barely passed the semester despite working hard. Psychologist Nada Al-Ashri believes that Egyptians' way of defining success is “very biased”. She explains that most people attribute a tangible meaning to the term, whether it be grades, professional promotion or salary. They never think about what they actually want to do, or what they are good at doing. “Most people fail to focus on what really matters, things like ‘Am I really happy with what I am doing?'” she says. Al-Ashri advises people to get more in touch with their inner selves, if they really want to become successful and effective human beings. She stresses that we first need to be in harmony with our own self. Most of the people who consulted Al-Ashri about problems relating to lack of success either lacked concrete goals, or cared more about what other people thought of them, rather than what they truly wanted to do themselves. “To them, appearance and prestige were more important than being happy, and in the long term this only resulted in depression,” Al-Ashri reflects. Karim Youssef is a 29-year-old computer science graduate. Though he holds a Masters Degree, he was never a great enthusiast for study. Scoring only 54 per cent in thanaweya amma, he had a pretty hard time getting into college. “I gave my parents hell in both high school and university, but the key to my success was that I followed my passion for technology,” he recalls. “I used to fix all kinds of domestic devices, TVs, laptops, cassette players and cell phones. And this developed from a hobby into a real life goal.” Youssef was first accepted into the Faculty of Languages in a private university, but after disastrous results in his first year, he was lucky enough to be able to switch to computer science. “I did very badly there, too, at the beginning,” he confesses. Despite his tremendous success in all his practical subjects, he still got straight F's in his theoretical courses. Jumana Hassan, a professor at Nottingham University, comments, “exams are just a piece of paper, they do not indicate success.” After finally graduating from university, Youssef's main goal was to be a programmer. “I took many practical courses in the field and managed to learn all about it from A to Z.” Youssef discovered that what he studied in university was a drop in the sea compared to the way he learned after he graduated. Al-Ashri notes, “the main key to Youssef's success was that he knew what he really wanted to do, what he is passionate about.” When we look at the issue from a deeper perspective, we can see that each one of us has his or her own unique definition of success. Successful people are those who define their goals according to their own interpretation of what ‘success' means. This means they can become successful by identifying their own strengths and weaknesses and working on reinforcing their strong points and correcting or adapting to their weak areas. Such a strategy combines analytical, practical and creative thinking, as Al-Ashri emphasises. Analytical thinking means identifying weaknesses and strengths. Practical thinking is our ability to adapt to change and to deal with different environments. Creative thinking is our ability to go one step further and think outside the box. As the proverb has it, “Two men sat behind prison bars, but one saw mud, and the other saw stars.” In a nutshell, being successful has more to do with inner peace and self-satisfaction than with material gain and external yardsticks. It does not matter if you spend years failing, so long as you are ready to dust yourself off and try again. “As long as you are still getting up again, you are on the right track,” Youssef says. To conclude, Al-Ashri offered some brief tips on how university students can try to be productive and successful members of society. - Rediscover yourself and widen your horizons: join clubs and be open to trying new things; you might discover a hidden talent and the real key to your success. - Accept challenges: Do not hesitate to take risks; again, it makes you see a different part of your personality. - Set realistic goals: Start with small goals (and increase them slowly, but surely). - Actions speak louder than words: work on reaching your targets. Many people have dreams and plans they talk about all the time, but how many people actually make them come true? (Combine creative and analytical thinking). - Team work: Find other people who share your interests, work together on achieving the same goals; finding other people who share your ideas will boost your motivation. - Know your abilities: know your strengths and weaknesses through experience; work on emphasising your strengths to compensate for your flaws. - Define your own unique notion of success: “It does not matter what you do or how you do it, people are going to talk about you anyway.”
