What Was He Going to Eat?

Cory had a really long day today. He left the house a little after 7:10 this morning, and he had Forensics practice after school and then pep band at the basketball game. As he was walking out the door this morning, I asked him if he had packed extra food - and he hadn't, just lunch as usual. By then it was too late to do anything. I offered to grab him an apple, but he said he'd be OK.

Then this afternoon, Beth said she was going to go to school and give Cory a ride home. Actually, she was going to get her grades straightened out. Looking at her grades, she should have gotten a 3.0 for the semester, but for some odd reason, it said 2.88 or something like that. Not a huge deal, except that she needs that 3.0 to qualify for the good student discount on the car insurance. Since she's out of school now and won't be going to WCTC until the fall semester, she doesn't have another chance to get that 3.0. She needs her report card to reflect that now. So she was going to get that straightened out. She just decided to time it so she could also give Cory a ride home.

I told her that Cory wasn't coming home, so he didn't need a ride. But, if she was going to go anyway, would she take Cory a sandwich? She agreed, so I made Cory a sandwich and packed him some cookies and sent them along. Beth got her grades figured out, and the guidance counselor is going to write a letter with the correct GPA listed, so we can forward that to the insurance agent. Cory got his sandwich, and it's a good thing. We didn't hear from him until about 8:30 when he called to say he needed someone to come pick him up. This is the boy who has to have a snack when he gets home from school, and he's still ready for dinner when it's time for that. How did he think he was going to survive all day without packing extra food?

He seemed rather appreciative when he got home. :)

The Academic Letter and How it Works

Cory's got his nice pretty Academic Letter now. I was going to check and see how much it would cost to buy him a letter jacket to display his letters on, but they wanted a school password to access the site so I'll have to wait. He's not really sure he wants a letter jacket, anyway, but it doesn't hurt to check.

They explained the requirements for receiving an Academic letter. It's based on grade point average. For every semester a student receives a GPA of 3-3.49, he gets 1 point. For a GPA of 3.5 and above, he gets 2 points. When he gets to 6 points, he gets a letter. When he gets to 12 points, he gets what they call the Top Cat award. Apparently there were quite a few kids from Cory's class who received their letters tonight. These kids have only been in high school for 3 semesters now, so they're definitely on track for that Top Cat award.

Cory's Getting an Academic Letter

We got a letter from the school recently. They're having a ceremony to award academic letters to the students who have earned them. It's nice that you don't have to be a sports star to earn a school letter, that they recognize high academic achievement, too. After all, that's why these kids are going to school - to get an education. We were watching Coach Carter this weekend and just shaking our heads at the fact that even the parents didn't get it. They'd rather have their boys play basketball than get an education and do well in school?

I'm going to have to miss the letter awards because it's the third Tuesday of the month. That means I've got a Library Board meeting at the same time, so Jeffrey will have to take him. Right now I'm supposed to be typing up the minute's from last month's meeting. Every month I say I'm going to get it done right away, but every month I wait until the last minute. Then I'm looking over my notes trying to figure out what I wrote and what it means. What is that? Share a Mizuno golf? What does that have to do with the library? Oh wait - I think it's Mystery book. That was it, that share a mystery book night that I missed.

Wish me luck. Hopefully these minutes will be halfway readable.

The Good Student Discount

We got the kids' report cards this week. The good news is it's going to be okay - Beth got her B average so she really does qualify for that Good Student Discount on her car insurance. Of course, she's mostly excited that she won't have to pay for her own insurance. That was the deal. As long as she maintains the B average, we'll pay for her insurance. She got her license in March but her grades were not good enough that semester, so, when the insurance came due, she had to pay. Since she got the required grades this semester, she won't have to pay next time the insurance comes due. Maybe that will be enough incentive for her to maintain that B average.

There's really no excuse for not getting good grades. The girl is smart. It just depends on whether she likes the subject and whether she has to put forth any effort. She loves math, can solve linear equations and understand inverse operations with her eyes closed, but give her a subject that requires a little effort, and she doesn't do so well. It's frustrating to watch, because I know she could do it if she'd just try. We've been hoping being able to drive and not having to pay for insurance would be enough of an incentive.

The Sad Thing

The sad thing about Beth's grades? She could do so much better. So much of it is just laziness and not turning assignments in on time or at all. Her teachers know she is capable of so much more, and so they expect it from her. She just doesn't care enough to put any effort in - even for driving privileges, it seems. We thought we had finally found something that was important enough that she would be willing to put forth the effort. Guess not.

She Needs a B Average

Report cards came today. It looks like Beth's driving privileges are at an end. First she wasn't going to get her driver's license unless she got a B average. Her dad told her that at the beginning of 2nd semester last year, when she wanted to take driver's ed. - the classroom portion. She got to take the class. She didn't put much effort into the rest of her classes and had nowhere near the B average. Still, she took the driving portion of the class during the summer. She's a good driver, no problems with that. Still, no license without the grades because, once she gets the license, we have to pay insurance. With the B average, we get the 'good student discount' and save at least 1/3 of the cost. Needless to say, Beth did not get her driver's license on her birthday in September.

She did put more effort into her classes this year in school. Still, no B average. Finally, it was getting close to March when she would need to either get her license or renew her permit if she wanted to keep driving at least with us. She said she was close to the B average. The progress report didn't look too bad, so her dad let her get her license. Come report card time, no B average. All right. That was just the quarter grade, so she was told that she needed to work hard and get those grades up so her semester grade would make it to the B average. Well, she didn't do it. We've given her more than enough leeway in this, and she just isn't getting it. So, driving privileges need to be suspended - except for the times when we need her to drive or to drive to work when she gets a job. She needs that job now - so she can pay for the insurance.

Grades

We got the kids' report cards last week. Beth is doing much better this year - only because she has to get a B average to keep her driving privileges. It's very important because her insurance costs are 1/3 cheaper when we get the good student discount. Other than the desire she has to drive, she has no motivation to get or maintain good grades. It's really sad because she was a very good student up until 8th grade. Then suddenly she stopped caring or trying. No matter what we say to her she just doesn't see any need to do well in school. She doesn't see how this will translate into real life and how what she does now will either open up or limit her possibilities in the future. I don't remember ever thinking about the future when I was in school. It didn't matter why I was learning this stuff or doing this work. The fact was that I was doing it now and I was going to do the best possible job while doing it. Her lack of caring just makes no sense to me.

Beth didn't quite make her B average for the quarter, but has to get there by the semester grade. The really puzzling part is that we got the results from the 10th grade standardized tests they took in November. She scored in the Advanced level in one subject area and in the Proficient level, but just a few points away from Advanced, in several other subjects. Obviously the girl is smart. When we asked her about the differences here, her explanation was that the questions on the test were really easy. *shaking my head*

I think we would be ok with her grades if we knew that was the best she could do - even at the expense of losing the good student discount for insurance. However, knowing that she can do better but chooses not to is really hard to deal with. All her teachers are the same way. They know she can do better and expect more from her than she is giving. If she honestly could not do better, that would be different.