School. My son is Failing some subjects. Should I worry?

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Nice one. I will also try this if needed. Thanks

reply to post by Pedro4077


He is doing well. He sees through the BS more than you. Life (for his ((and my
own sons)) sake) needs to take a whole new direction. An honest one.

Schooling is indoctrination for the masses. No more, no less.
And it will mean nothing soon, imo.

Teach him 9/11 was an (faked if you must know) inside job.
Teach him flouride and sugar are poison.
Teach him pure THC cures all forms of cancer within weeks...

I could go on...

Teach him how to defend himself and recognise liars.
Teach him how to attach little importance to money,
the importance of which the schools do nothing but teach.
Teach him that he must answer to no man, but himself.

Just my 2 cents, friend.


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reply to post by Pedro4077


Models.

That is your answer.

Education teaches models that can be used and applied throughout life.

The more models you have in your head, the better at solving problems with your own twist you become.

Originally posted by Unity_99
reply to post by Pedro4077

 

Just keep working with him to be good at reading and writing and basic math, and then he needs to decide what he is interested in. Music, art, mechanics. For some things he needs the advanced math and science so he should be told ahead of time, what requirements are. Many boys develop later in life, their brain wiring, and are more prone to learning disabilities than girls, and brain wiring things. Don't be overly strict but guide him.

My father was a very succsessful buisness man. He only reached year five - Remote Outback Australia. Once you know your calling, you learn what is needed to succseed in that area.

I believe regurgutiting rubbish is just pointless. I will teach him what he needs to know, and I don't care if he doesn't know the signs for Elements.

reply to post by Pedro4077


There are MANY applications for such formulas. My father, my brother, my uncle and my brother-in-law are all pipe fitters. Guess what? They use these formulas DAILY.

Sorta sounds like you are trying to justify your child's laziness...dont get me wrong, there are many reasons why kids lose interest in school, and school is certainly not a perfect science. But to shrug off things as important as simple geometry is not the way to go.



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A little anecdotal evidence if it helps:

I graduated at the very bottom of my high school class in '02. I'm now in my second year of college with a solid 3.8 GPA.

High school isn't for everyone. The schools these days are failing to educate just as much as the students are failing to learn. I knew I was smart enough back then to get straight A's. I just didn't care enough. Or I was too worried about getting robbed or beaten up to think about homework.

Don't let his grades form your opinion of who he is. Talk to him. Is he intelligent? Can he hold a relevant conversation? If school doesn't work out for him, then make him get a GED. Nothing wrong with that.

graduating isn't about the triangle

explain to your son it's about proving you finish what you start and show up every day and have basic intelligence and a work ethic.

if he still resists, what he's telling you is; "I don't understand this stuff, and I don't know how to fix it"

help him, don't enable him

Originally posted by OutonaLimb


He is doing well. He sees through the BS more than you. Life (for his ((and my
own sons)) sake) needs to take a whole new direction. An honest one.

Schooling is indoctrination for the masses. No more, no less.
And it will mean nothing soon, imo.

Teach him 9/11 was an (faked if you must know) inside job.
Teach him flouride and sugar are poison.
Teach him pure THC cures all forms of cancer within weeks...

I could go on...

Teach him how to defend himself and recognise liars.
Teach him how to attach little importance to money,
the importance of which the schools do nothing but teach.
Teach him that he must answer to no man, but himself.

Just my 2 cents, friend.

edit on 4-9-2012 by OutonaLimb because: (no reason given)

Ahh yes, lets fight indoctrination with indoctrination. Lets not teach our kids to critically think, lets tell them that our beliefs are fact, even if we cant prove it.

I weep for our children.

My first reply since my introduction some months ago but this one kind of hit home. Sorry for it's length now and i formatted the best I could with my tablet keyboard, my apologies for lack of indentation and any spelling errors.

Yes, seeing the posts above, I agree that schools aren't run properly but their are no other options for success in a corporate world and that is where most are aiming for.

In my first year of high school I went from being number 1 in my class in Jr. High to failing all but one subject and failing for the year. My parents were struck dumb. I corrected the issues and was back ranked number 1 by my senior year.

The reason for the huge drop was a bit complicated but let me simplify it. In eighth grade I was the smart kid, the quiet kid, the kid with his nose stuck in a book. Over the summer between eighth and ninth grade I decided I wanted to be popular and have lots of friends because that seemed way more important than grades. I changed my look, I found a click, started skating, got a girlfriend and became very sexually active. I also experimented with some drugs. I decided that paying attention and doing homework were detrimental to my new found popularity and decided that the cool kids never seemed to do class/homework but they always passed their classes so I could do nothing as well. Turns out I was wrong. For the next few years I balanced between the two and got average grades. My junior year, I had an epiphany. I realized that these people were only friends with me because I was filling the stereotypical bad boy and that these people cared nothing for me in truth. They didn't even try to help me when I spoke of suicide or my possible opiate addiction.

Over the course of a week after my realization I broke ties with all of them. I told them all I would report their activities to the police if they contacted me again. I got into fist fights with several of my friends just to make the break real. I didn't just burn those bridges, I nuked them from orbit. I was pretty much hated for a few months until summer hit again.

Now that summer, I went back to my old, nose in a book self. I spent time in rehab and had nothing better than to read. I read the Divine Comedy several times (best book ever) and started over. I met a girl at the beginning of the next school year and while she was one of the "cool" kids, she liked me. She never judged me and never put pressure on me to be anything other than me. I went back to the top of grades, although I was asked to not accept the senior class award given to the highest GPA for that year - Valedictorian was highest for all four years, which I passed to the girl in second behind me because I didn't deserve it and didn't want it. I went on to marry that girl and I was ok.

Now, why do I tell you all of this? Number one, my parents never recognized what my issues were until I flat out told them - you should look into what is going on. Number two, if these failing grades is a big change - he can recover from it. Number three - and most important IMO, know what your kid is doing and who his friends are. He will thank you later if he is doing something that could hurt him.

Failing grades are not a failure on the parent's part all of the time, not correcting them or getting him the help he may need, whether it be for a learning disability or other chemical/psychological issues, is a big failure. Don't expect a conspiracy website to be able to tell you how to be a parent but don't be afraid to ask the right people - teachers especially - some of them do care, the wouldn't do these low paying, high stress jobs if they didn't.

So my story is to not only show you that change is possible but that you need to get involved now before he gets in too deep. Education is the key to today's workforce unfortunately - has nothing to do with how well you can do something but how far you went in school and who you know - both of which college can help.

You may think the stuff he is learning is useless but it teaches thinking skills and problem solving skills which are important later in life.

I wish you nothing but the best on your problem and hope that you can find help or the source of his issues.

reply to post by reficul


You have fallen for the corrupt system. Mindless masses conforming to the MSM idea of intelligence.

Robotic drones looking at their watches and rushing of to their pointless jobs.

He will do something positive with his life, he is already one step above you.

You are enabling your child, and teaching him a sense of entitlement. This is a bad thing.

reply to post by Pedro4077


This is the thing, my oldest is very bright, not only IQ but nothing blocking the neurology an he had 96-97% first year physics grade. I don't want him in the system, and will be starting a business to try and tempt him to consider other things. Sometimes you just want to protect your kids from the system. And find other ways.

For 3 years I worked in a Tile Factory. Many of the workers there were highly educated University Gaduates. Guess What - their certificates meant nothing when you have 500 people applying for the same job.

reply to post by captaintyinknots

You are enabling your child, and teaching him a sense of entitlement. This is a bad thing.

No I am teaching him about hard work. Read an earlier post. He is turning 15, he can drive, weld, concrete, fence and many other hands on skills.

The first time I had to use Pythagorean geometry in the working world was eye opening. I'd been the loudest in the class with the "why do I have to learn that?" The first time, I made myself sit down with a pencil and paper and fully work out all the angles and lengths using the formulas. It taught me a valuable lesson.

At some time in your son's life he will need to know something that he (and you) find currently unimportant.
It may or may not save his life, save his job, save his marriage...who knows. Knowledge isn't something to sneer at.
Knowing too much is better than not knowing enough.

Work with money (or get paid, pay bills)? Better know math. Work with your hands? Better know physics/math/geometry. Charm will only get you so far.

The adage that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it bodes heavily. By knowing history you can correct, or avoid mistakes. ["Let's take control of Iraq and restore democracy!" Ring any bells? Look what happened the last FIVE times someone tried that.]

Sure he can lay bricks, but can he keep them straight? Does he know what width a wall of a certain height needs to be? How about angles of trusses? How about tensile strengths? Torque? Moments? Buying the right amount of materials? That's all math/geometry/physics. Mixing concrete? Chemistry.

Save him the embarrassment of doing shoddy work. Make him study. Use these examples. Why would anyone hire a 'tradesman' who missed something in the estimate, got the bill wrong, built the wall crooked?
Why would anyone pay more than minimum wages to someone who couldn't do the basics?
He may be good with his hands, but it's better to work smarter than to work harder.

Originally posted by Pedro4077
For 3 years I worked in a Tile Factory. Many of the workers there were highly educated University Gaduates. Guess What - their certificates meant nothing when you have 500 people applying for the same job.

Heres the difference.
Those Graduates could advance , or leave to find jobs in their fields.

You will have no such option.

Education = more open doors

Originally posted by Pedro4077
For 3 years I worked in a Tile Factory. Many of the workers there were highly educated University Gaduates. Guess What - their certificates meant nothing when you have 500 people applying for the same job.

Again, you are enabling your child and teaching him a sense of entitlement. It will not serve him well. Do you think anyone will hire him if he cat even complete basic schooling? Good luck with that. Sure, some people are able to overcome a lack of education and make a good life. the overwhelming majority spend their lives barely scraping by, if at all.

I wonder why it is so important for you to try and justify your childs lack of success in school.

Originally posted by Pedro4077
For 3 years I worked in a Tile Factory. Many of the workers there were highly educated University Gaduates. Guess What - their certificates meant nothing when you have 500 people applying for the same job.

good point

the guy who has no education always has a leg up in stiff competition

what do you want to hear ? take him out of school and be his friend ?

Originally posted by Pedro4077
reply to post by captaintyinknots

 

You are enabling your child, and teaching him a sense of entitlement. This is a bad thing.

No I am teaching him about hard work. Read an earlier post. He is turning 15, he can drive, weld, concrete, fence and many other hands on skills.

Teaching him about hard work by telling him it is okay to shrug off important subjects with everyday applications?

No, you are telling him he can take shortcuts. You are telling him that hard work wont get him ahead. You are telling him that there are no real life applications for things like geometry, which is downright foolish.