This Story Is Just ... Sad

I was the other way...in high school I didn't try and didn't really care about grades. I did the minimal amount to get by and graduated dead-smack in the middle of my class.

When I got to college I got straight A's after the first year. Amazing how things work out.

 

Certainly this story can be seen as an indictment of the high school A-for-effort culture that has taken root. It often does kids no favors.

 

This is great...I used to fight with my parents all the time in high school I told them there is a big difference between learning and getting good grades. They could not accept that I was learning plenty although my grades were not the best.

 

Not that I teach in that area, but I encounter something like this every now and then ... someone who has always succeeded who can't seem to fathom that he/she isn't nearly as good as previously thought. It can be very distressing to the student (and trying to the instructor).

Re: the writing guidance ... I thought of this scene from A River Runs Through It ...

 

Kashawn was a more notable case, but you, doctorquant, I'm sure have seen students who sailed through high school who suddenly couldn't hack it in college. It seems to happen in every activity when you move up a level. Think of the junior high baseball hotshot who suddenly can't get a hit as a high school, or the celebrated singer in elementary school who finds out she's the worst in the junior high choir. If you haven't been prepped, especially mentally, for that transition, that can be a killer.

 

Growing up, I always scored well in my writing and English classes, always getting A's and being told I was a good writer. I got to AP English my freshman year of high school and was flabbergasted when I got a D on my first paper. Teacher explained that my organization was shit and allowed me to re-write the paper. I learned more in that class than probably any other of my academic career, but it took a teacher who finally understood that while I was good, there were still finer points to the skill that I needed to master. A strong vocabulary and the ability to put together coherent sentences wasn't enough.

I can see how this kid could get through high school and not be properly prepared for Cal. The teachers wanted him to succeed and didn't want to ding his GPA. But rather than teaching him, giving the opportunity to resubmit papers, etc., they moved him along with great grades and didn't challenge him.

From the story, it seems like this kid is up to the challenge and wants to succeed. Hope he's able to keep improving and keep that drive to succeed.

 

My friend in college that I mentioned earlier says, to this day, that the most important moment of college for him was this exchange in our second-semester comp class that we had together:

Friend (to professor): This class is going to kill my GPA.

Professor: I don't give a shit about your GPA. I'm here to teach you how to write.

I can't even remember that professor's name. He was an adjunct from the local high school. But he was probably the most important professor I ever had, too. I sailed through high school and first semester of college getting A after A in writing, being told how great I was at it. Then I get my first paper back from this guy, and it was a 71 or a 72 with red ink all over it. And he was absolutely correct. It was florid, disorganized shit.

 

Looking at the story of how he was struggling with the readings and writing, I was left wondering if the kid had ever been tested for dyslexia.

 

Would you guys hire him?

 

For what?

Sales position or something else where his personality and the impression he leaves is more important? Sure. A writing position? Probably not. The work ethic would definitely be a plus anywhere.

 

You guys are so quick to judge, "would you hire him?" Kid just finished his first year at a major university after leaving the confines of South Central LA. Damn, talk about ethnocentric. Broaden your perspective a bit.

Here's a kid who did not have someone who read to him when he was a toddler, who did not have someone who read to them every night before they went to bed, who did not have a push to get to the library every day, who did not have someone to explore the arts, the sciences (his roommate.)

His 4.06 is no doubt suspect, when he can hardly apparently write coherent sentences.

But, he's trying very hard, and more importantly, making progress.

As a huge advocate of affirmative action in college and law school, in order to increase the numbers of the underrepresented, you needed to identify those who excelled in spite of the obstacles of not having the traditional tools. You can spin it as "lowering the standards"; but I always, and still do, believe that was identifying excellence using non-traditional criteria. Here's a typical question we wrestled with:

Is someone who worked 40 hrs a week with a single parent home, who helps raise 4 other siblings, and achieves a 3.7 just as worthy as someone from an affluent community who never worked a day in his/her life and had unfettered access to tutors and supplemental classes and who got a 4.0?

(Keep in mind, we applied these criteria in a color-blind fashion, race was not a factor; we had caucasians admitted under this criteria as well. )

This kid highlights the type of candidates that would not meet traditional criteria, yet someone who could meet the college standards ultimately.

This story is not sad, its reality.

I wish him the best and hope that he ultimately succeeds.