Everyone, in whichever positive field he is, should always try to improve and better his performance. So it is imperative for a student also to put in more efforts and try to improve himself. If he has scored a B grade in an examination, he should urge himself to exert to do better next time and score at least an A grade. Any student will do well only if he, as the author said, challenge himself to perform better.
But there are many factors that should work as aids to help him climb the ladder. Motivation by the teachers, parents and peers is one factor. Then comes the competition among classmates. But the main factor, I think, is the confidence level of the student. A student should start feeling that he has the potential to improve and that he can do better. A student who is happy with his level of performance will never be able to challenge himself. He must entertain or must be made to entertain the thought that he will do better if he put in more efforts.
Increasing the study time or trying to change the way he prepares his lessons is not an easy task. A student who is in the primary class or high school will have to be guided and told that he can do better. Suppose a student scores 60 marks in a subject. If his teacher calls him and tells him that he could have scored at least 75 marks if he had concentrated a bit more on the details of the lessons or that he could have scored more if he had written his answers more accurately, I am sure that it will instil confidence in himself and he might take it as a challenge and do better in the next exam.
All said and done, all this applies only to those students who are basically interested in studies. For others who do not take their studies seriously and attend classes just as a past time, there is neither any challenge nor endeavor to put in more efforts.
'Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'.
-Aristotle
