Lazy High School Student

Are you the parent of a child who is unmotivated to learn?  You are not alone.  There seem to be two types of students.  There are those who are signing up for more and more honor classes and school activities.  Then there are those teenagers who have time for ' television, video games, social media and friends, but not for school.

In this article by Adam Price, "The Underchallenged 'Lazy Teenager'", published in the Wall Street Journal on 8/12/2014, a psychologist, list some ideas to help parents.

1.  "Stop telling him how smart he is"  Does your child have trophies for sports for just showing up?  A high IQ is not really anything without the drive to work hard.  So appreciate your child and celebrate when they work hard.

2. "Stop doing the dishes for him."  Your child needs to participate with the household chores.  Your child is never too busy to take out the garbage or clean their room.  I also had my children learn to do their own wash.  This eliminated me having to decide what was dirty or clean around their room.  If they did not do their wash, they worry dirty soccer clothes to practice.  This was their choice.

3. "Don't let him off easy" Rules are rules and everyone must follow them or face the consequences.  This is so much easier to learn as a child versus as an adult.  It is hard to set limits and deal out consequences so it is best to discuss this in detail before starting a rule.  Today of course parents have given their teenagers cell phones which can show where they are at all times.  One of the easiest rules if you don't wake up in time to take the bus to school you must walk or take public buses to school.  Do not write an excuse.  Let your child see the consequence of not being ready in time.  I usually called the office and told them to help me with a great consequence at school.   My son always forgot to do his homework.  So I had the middle school teachers page him after school every day to go to the office when he did not have his homework.  Soon he did it.  He did not like going to the office to do his homework and not going home with his friends.

4. "Don't make him shine for you"  Enjoy your child for who he or she is.  They are becoming an adult and learn about them.  Going to the perfect college, being accepted at the most colleges, etc. are jus things to brag about to make the parent feel good.  Don't put pressure on your child.  If they don't want to go to college ask their plans for their life.  Share what things costs.  Car, instance, gas, maintenance, new tires -- if you give them a car you should share the expenses involved with this.  If you child is happy just to get into the local community college help them enjoy the experience.

There is no real cure for a lack of motivation to succeed at high school.  Maybe your child is just a late bloomer and needs to go through life the hard way.  Make sure they understand the consequences of not having good grades.  They will not get into college easily.  They may have to go to junior college or maybe trade school.  I found working helps students become motivated.  Go around with your teenager and pick up job applications.  Talk about eating minimum wage and paying taxes.  Perhaps life will be their motivator.

Found this comic and had to add it.

Making Math Education Even Worse

This is the title of an article in the Wall Street Journal on August 6, 2014 written by Marina Ratner.  She tells the story as a grandmother of a boy starting 6th grade in Berkeley, CA.

California has been know for having some of the highest math standards in the nation.  But now a lead writer of mathematics standard, Jason Zimba States, "the new standards wouldn't prepare students for colleges to which 'most parents aspire' to send their children."

Now there is a fear, because in the upper math classes have lower expectations for students with the new common core.  Now students might not have the skills to succeed in college math classes.

Two things I have experienced with the new common core.

1.  If your child has trouble reading, they will now to poorly in math as well.  The new common core has many more word problems.  Math use to be an universal language.  Students without an English background could still succeed in school in math.  Now with so many word problems the universal language of math is gone.

2.  If your child hates busy work, they will not do well in the the new common core math.  They must draw visual representations about what the math means.  They draw, draw, and draw.  "Simple concepts are made artificially intricate and complex with the pretense of being deeper--while the actual content taught was primitive."

So as parents, you might want to purchase textbooks such as Algebra one and Two, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus.  Think about which college you would like your child to attend.  Check out the math courses they will need to get a degree.  Hire a tutor to help them learn the math that public schools will no longer be teaching.