The End-of-Quarter Grades Are In.
The end-of-quarter grades are in.
Thanks to Shane’s last-minute effort to complete his two “missing” homework assignments, he has straight A’s! His A in an honors math class gives him a GPA that’s actually above 4.0 for the first time (ever).
In order to keep these grades for the semester, Shane needs, at least, all B’s for the next quarter. I am totally thrilled, and so proud of all his hard work.
When I tell him this, Shane says things like, “I just do whatever the teachers tell me to do.”
As if that were the most normal thing ever for an 8th grader.
Shane is odd in a way that is very conducive to good grades.
Dylan, who turned in almost everything on time, has two A’s, a B (in Piano class), and four C’s. It is his junior year of high school and his GPA for this semester means more than it ever has meant. These grades are the ones the colleges look at most closely, to see if he is ready to study at a college level.
But even if Dylan gets straight A’s in the fourth quarter, he will have – at best – four more B’s on his transcript. If he gets more C’s in the fourth quarter, he may not get into college.
He did so much better getting the work in. He still didn’t study. He still dropped out of the race during the home stretch. And he still turned in many, many assignments late – just not late enough to lose his electronics privileges.
I am no longer worried about high school for Dylan. He will do what he’s going to do.
Now I worry that he’ll get to college, and do what he’s always done, and lose several thousand dollars learning that it doesn’t work at college. He can’t succeed there with these habits so ingrained here.
I think, He has a learning disorder. It is nearly impossible for someone with this learning disorder to turn in his work.
But it’s not.
Dylan has been given so many tools to succeed in school, for so many years. Everything we’ve shown him, and everything his school has taught him, is specifically geared toward helping him succeed in spite of ADHD.
It seems as though he just doesn’t want to use them. He doesn’t want reminders. He doesn’t want to talk to teachers. He doesn’t remember to take coffee to school, eat meat in the morning, or chew gum during tests. His fidget toys are all lost. He doesn’t exercise or sleep enough.
Yet he says, “I’m not going to do this in college, Mom.”
I am so proud of his changes and what he’s accomplished. The fact that he is planning to graduate from high school instead of dropping out is a small miracle.
But I am tremendously concerned that he will do this in college.
And then what will be the point of having tried so hard for so long?