Academic Exclusion: The dreaded outcome

There are few University experiences as harrowingly devastating as being academically
excluded. If failing an exam is painful and seen as failure, then being academically excluded
represents the height of pain and failure for a University student.
There are many reasons why students are at risk of academic exclusion. They range from
not being equipped or prepared for the rigorous nature of university academics, to
experiencing events that are outside of one’s control like mental health issues and personal
tragedy. We’re not here to discuss those. We are here to talk about a valuable mental tool
one can use to avoid academic exclusion, or how to overcome it should you fall victim to it.

In his book titled Think Again, Adam Grant explores how it is that we can use rethinking as a
tool to improve how we see ourselves and the world we live in. For example, if your crush
declines your advances you can think, “Women/men are not good people,” because your
heart has been broken, or you can instead rethink it as, ”A person has a right to say ‘no’ to
my advances no matter how much I like them and it says nothing about my value.” That
second part is how we can approach the conundrum that is either a possible academic
exclusion, or if you already have been.

For many University students, the grind to enter university was a difficult one and
represented what became central to their identity, ”I am academically inclined and am
smart because of that.” It’s a natural way to see oneself when one has worked hard to get
into university. So failure represents an identity crisis. But academically smart is not who
you are, it’s simply what you do. It is a skill, not a character trait. You must detach yourself
from seeing “university student” as central to who you are, and rather as a means to an end.
A way to get the skills you need to achieve your goals. If you’re still studying this relieves
some pressure from you so you can simply focus on the task at hand. If you have already
been academically excluded, reframing it this way doesn’t mean you’re a failure, simply that
you fell short on a skill, and can have another go at it with better tools than you did last
time.

The pressures of being a student are many! There are, however, support systems if you feel
that you are in danger of being academically excluded. Reach out! There is no shame
because so many have experienced the same. If you have been excluded, you can simply try
again with the confidence that this time around, you know better.

Remember, a university student is not who you are, it’s simply what you do. There are many
things that are central to your identity. It’s the irony of university; you have to do the job of
learning who you are while figuring out how to pass exams.