Often times, teachers, instructors and parents emphasise the essence of students keeping notes. Needless to say, many students still ignore the practice of keeping notes for future use, leading to various negative outcomes including poor performance, cheating in exams, and even stealing of classmate’s notes, among other things. German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein also emphasised the importance of keeping what many may perceive as ‘history’ or less beneficial. “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow,” he said. Education experts say that regardless of the cause leading to loss of students’ work, they are still held accountable for being careless, incompetent, irresponsible and distracted. Kelvin Juan Rwema Ndizihiwe, a top performer previously at Nu-Vision High School under the Cambridge curriculum, says that it is very hard for a student to memorise everything the teacher passes on without consulting his/her notes, therefore, need to keep them well. “One of the things that I would recommend for all the students who are still in school and want to perform exceptionally well is that they should keep everything that contains knowledge because at some point they will need it.” Rwema kept on saying that one of the mistakes learners often make is that they always concentrate more on fresh notes and ignore revision of old notes. However, he says, this might only guarantee a student ‘short-term success’ and they end up failing in the long run. Experts say that it is through losing work that you find different performances in the same class. This is due to the fact that some of these students are revising both current and old content. The seemingly rhetorical question remains, why do students still lose their work, and how effective has it been on their performance? Mathematics and physics teacher at Nu-Vision High School, John Bosco Otim, says learners are reluctant to keep their notes because they are assured of the internet giving them answers to all their questions. However, he says, this shouldn’t be a custom that they exercise in education. “It is true that students can get all the information they require from the internet but education is all about teaching and exercising one’s brain to do things independently,” Otim says. “ As a teacher, looking at a student who neatly keeps their notes, I get different impressions, first of all the student is careful, responsible, and focuses on what they are doing, among others, and as a result, this will definitely put the student at the top of the class,” Otim adds. As an after high school commitment of his own, Rwema tutors his little sister, Teta, using his notes. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
