MY MOST REGRESSED STUDENT

I recognized one of my students as one of the brighter ones in my math class near the beginning of the school year. She would occasionally miss days of school, but when she did attend class, she caught on very quickly and always outperformed most of the students who had been there every day. For the most part, she turned in her homework assignments, and unlike most of my students, her homework assignments were relatively accurate. She made a high B during the first term.

During the second term, the student began to miss many more days of school. Because the material was getting more complicated, when she did come to class, she was lost and unable to make up for the days missed. She began to put her head down in class and seemed to have become very uninterested in what was going on. I discovered that she was doing the same thing in other classes and that part of the reason was that she had gotten a part time job.

Due to the student's sporadic attendance, the student failed both the second and third term. During the third time, I began to inform the student's mother when the student was not attending class. Apparently, the student was cutting school without the mother's knowledge. While the mother's involvement caused some improvement in the student's attendance and performance, much more will be needed in order for the student to pass the class.

This situation has made one point very clear - by the time a child is an upper-classman in high school, he/she should already have developed the character needed to be successful in life. It is very difficult for parents to control the behavior of a 16-18 year old when the parents are working and cannot keep their eyes on the child all day long.