ups ans downs

 Geoff is a very smart young man.  He can do well in any class.  During the distance learning for the pandemic, he has been working in my office with little supervision.  He spends a lot of time watching videos instead of class.  He spent 0 time writing notes September to January.  He got a B in Biology and was about to get a B in English.  No notes.  

We took away his second monitor for a while.  Then with the impending B in English we sat on his head about it.  The teacher let him re-take the module 4 exam that he had failed (50%).  

We'd like to let him fail, but we also don't want that failure to be on his permanent record.  His segment exam had an excerpt arguing the efforts of the parents and mistakes are inevitable.  It was sort of humorous to review the test with him and ask him to review the work involving that passage.

There are things we learn in crisis.  The trouble with a permanent record is that they don't record what we learned from failing, just that we were capable of failing.  Of course we can all fail.  But do you really want to miss out on opportunities like scholarships and getting in to academically competitive programs?

I try to be very compassionate on myself during this time and accept that we're in a hard time.  What are we learning during this time?  What self discipline are we establishing in this time away from peers?  G has been blessed with tremendous knowledge and ability.  He doesn't often have to work to get a good grade.  Therein lies the weakness he will face as he takes more advanced classes, finding the motivation to work, for the sake of excellence.  He can sit around saying he could have done better if he tried.  That's a sad way to live, especially as opportunities are missed over the years.  It's emotionally safe to know you could have tried harder, if you wanted to.  That's a coward's game.  To try your hardest and still not make the cut, that is really painful.  But I hope G will someday be brave enough to try his best, and achieve all that is possible for him.