|
**I'M DESPERATE**Middle School Report Card
Dear Reader,
Hi. I'm in middle school, and I'm the kind of student that usually gets good grades. We are about to get our 3rd-trimester process report card. I know what you might be thinking, "It's not even a real report card!". But my parents are really strict about my grades and education, so they might flip when they find out. I know my grades already, from PowerSchool (an online thing to check your current grades). I got an A, 2 B's, and 1 D. The D is my main problem!
Today, I had asked my mom something about my grades. Guess what she said? "If it's not an A, it's bad." But she doesn't seem to understand that a C is average, a B is above average, and an A is excellent. I'm not excellent in every way! Then I started panicking that she'll yell at me or something. Please help me! I'm very desperate for an answer!!
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Work & School category?
Maybe give some free advice about: School?
Hello dear
Sorry to hear your parents are such strict perfectionists. Its not your imagination since you checked and Mom said anything other than A is bad.
I think you should have a talk with your teachers after school until you;ve had a chance to tell each one exactly what you have told me. I am thinking back to when I was little and my own kids and teachers set meetings to meet with parents each night until they had talked to each one about how the child was doing. I don't know if schools still do this but it sounds like it would be a good thing for you if they do and knew of your situation ahead of time, before meeting your parents with you there. In case your school doesn't do this, I feel your teachers could sit as a team one night at school to meet with your parents to discuss your grades. It would be a great thing to have a team of people speaking up for you on all your grades and letting the parents know what can be done to get the grades up in the class with a D. The stress of trying to get all A's could cause you to have real problems with stress, depressions, panic attacks that become regular and getting worse grades in every subject than you had before. If there are school counselors, you might have them aware of this too and ask what they can do to help.
The world today for teens and preteens is scary and stressful enough without adding more from parents over something like this. But be honest with yourself, and if its not that your mind simply doesnt get the subject, for me it was Algebra. I was never good in math, no matter how hard I tried. It only closed off jobs like being a scientist or math teacher to me, as some examples. But my talents lie elsewhere and encouraging a person to study more at what they excell is a good thing. My math is good enough to be able to count out correct change as a cashier, see a discount for 75% off and be able to figure out what the price tag of an item is before i get to check out, and how to convert recipes to half of what asked for or double what is asked for, you know, the basic stuff the average person ends up dealing with in day to day life.
My kids went to a middle school of my choice, one that was attached to a grade school so the 7th and 8th graders were a smaller group. This meant teacher had more time for each of them and their standard was to be harder on the kids in middle school than necessary to help prepare them for HS so bad grades didn't bother them, just how hard the kids worked to get their grades. I remember meeting with a team of teachers of my middle daughter. Her grades were worse than yours and the teachers didn't want us to worry. Their biggest concern was her tendency to wait until the last minute or have her homework complete in her bag or folder and just fail to turn it in the next morning in class. They felt she was doing just great even with the lower grades because they were expecting closer to what a HS might expect for new students. And it worked, she did great in HS, not all A's but it helped and having parents and teachers who didn't harp on her all the time or put unrealistic expectations on her, is also what helped her to do good.
If you have a relative you are close to who do not feel like your parents, you could always find a way to talk to them and tell your story and ask if they could say anything to help you out. YOur parents mean well. But all parents make mistakes in raising their kids and I did too. But a parent who can realize when another adult tells them to try going at this differently and being okay with B's and occasional C's that they have been doing his wrong and correcting how they parent you is a good thing but not everyone will respond this way.
If nothing good happens and this continues or gets worse by time you are in high school, and you are being affected mentally, emotionally and getting worse grades due to the stress, feel like self harming or thoughts of suicide which many have done over stuff like this, then you need to ask school counselor to put you in touch with a counselor who works with teens and once you are seeing one, they will want to meet and talk to your parents if they are the lone cause of your stress.
]
More Questions: |