Why Emotional Intelligence Is Important For Students

In a country like Nigeria where educational accomplishments are considered the most important milestones a person can pass, it comes as no surprise that IQ is talked more about than EQ. Simply put, IQ (Intelligence Quotient)  is a measurement of the level of intelligence of an individual. EQ (Emotional Quotient), on the other hand, is the ability of an individual to understand his and the other person’s emotions.

If you were to weigh up which is more needed in an educational environment, a high intelligence quotient would seem to be more beneficial to a student seeking to graduate with excellent results. After all, a good understanding of emotions isn’t particularly the tool for passing a math test. However, schooling isn’t just about learning to get good grades or graduating with a first-class degree. It is also about socializing, learning how to communicate with people from different backgrounds, learning how to survive out there, learning to be successful in life! At least that’s what it should be.

Is a high IQ really the most important factor in success, even in the school setting? On the contrary, many studies on emotional intelligence such as “Emotional Intelligence: a study on university students” by Ravi Kant have shown that emotional intelligence plays a major role in the success of any individual, which of course, includes students. In fact, while having a high IQ has a higher impact on an individual’s success in school, a high EQ has been researched to have a greater contribution to one’s overall success in life. 

By now, you must be wondering, how the hell is understanding my emotions and that of others going to make me more successful in life? For a start, below are 5 ways having a high emotional quotient would contribute to your success as a student

1. Confidence
2. Empathy
3. Self-Motivation
4. Self-Management & Regulation
5. Self-Aware

Confidence

According to Upadhyay, a high emotional quotient for a student is key to developing confidence in a student. According to his research, students with high levels of emotional intelligence exhibited a higher self-confidence than those without.

You don’t need a research paper to prove to you that confidence in one’s ability greatly improves one’s chances of being successful at anything in life. If you’ve written tests and examinations, which ones did you perform better? The ones where you were scared, anxious and unsure or the ones where you were full of confidence?

● Empathy

Emotional intelligence doesn’t have to do with just understanding your feeling and that of others. It is also the ability for you to put yourself in the shoes of someone else. Viewing things from their perspective and relating or communicating with them based on your mental assessments. 

Now, would you say empathy is an important trait of a good leader? Would an empathetic person find it easy to gain associates or friends? Definitely!

● Self-Motivated:

encompassing our internal drive to self-actualization. Not depending solely on external motivation networks but also encouraging ourselves to perform and accomplish goals.

● Self-Management and Self-Regulation:

encompasses the ability to be in check with our emotions. It is also the ability to control our emotions as well as our reactions to situations and responses to discussions or misunderstandings.

● Self-aware:

understanding yourself and being able to both recognize and understand others; their behaviours and emotions.

EQ is not the enemy of IQ, in fact, it is most preferred to have both high EQ and high IQ. Life has been recognized as an inherently social construct. Conveying and communicating what is contained in the IQ would be required in the presence of the EQ.

EQ, as a driver of success, does not only apply in our private lives but also our academic life, social life and the likes. Yes EQ drives life, but if care and concern, as well as control, is not taken, bad decisions could spring up from it.

Reasons EQ determines success:

• EQ has a stronger hand in success: It has been said that IQ will get you somewhere or something but EQ will help you keep it. This is to say that without EQ, nothing can be sustained. Two things are greater determinants of success than IQ, these are EQ and SQ (social Intelligence).
• High EQ leads to healthy relationships: Our emotional skills are what is majorly responsible for our relationships with people, be it just friendship or more. It serves as a sustenance or food to relationships. It is important to understand their feelings, points of view and emotions in order to maintain a solemn relationship. We cannot maintain a solid relationship unless we learn how to control our emotions and thoughts as well as feelings. To step down sometimes to understand others.
• Emotional health impacts on Physical health: It has been gathered that there is a direct relationship between emotional health and physical health. It is simple. This is because poor emotional health which would result in stress would inevitably lead to a physical breakdown. We experience stress basically because we are not comfortable emotionally.

We must learn to motivate ourselves and also learn self-control. Unless we learn to manage our emotions, we will constantly be battling with downtimes – feelings of gloom and distress.