The real reson why kids make bad grades.

It has come to me, "Pops-Soda", that I think that I have figured out why most kids with bad grades, make the grades they do. I understand that the grading scale is based on A,B,C,D, and F. I believe that it all comes down to the words of encouragement, and discouragement. Not only that, but also the kind of teacher and what goes on in the class they are in. I do believe that a students grades do not have anything to do with homework.

When a student is discouraged. Whether it be given a bad grade, or told that they can do better and that they are doing bad, the student tends to get bad grades. Here is an example. My worst subject is Geometry. Well, my teacher is really boring, she has a mono-tone voice and everything is bookwork and she doesnt show us her own examples. My next class is a telecommunications academy, in which I ace everything. It is very hands on, and there is alot of encouragement in that class.

When a student gets discouraged, they tend to think that they do not belong in that subject, therefore, burning out on the subject. Same as when the student gets tremendous amounts of homework to do, the student is so jam-packed with homework, that there brain stresses and then they get work anxiety.

When a stuent is encouraged and praised apon his or her own work, the student strives to reach farther and grab more knowledge. If the student has little homework or none at all, they tend to do better in the classes that they once were not good at.

These are my reasonings and I hope that they maybe help some people out there.

Not knowing what grade you are in, I'm going to focus on High School. By this time, a student should know what their aptitudes are, basically which courses are going to need exta attention because their personal skills lay elsewhere. If you are below HS level, this is not aimed at you, but the bottom line is every student is responsible for their work. Don't blame a boring teacher.

lol, its not the boring teacher I was blaming, I am in the High-School level and i have one boring teacher, but she doesnt bother me. I have just noticed this with alot of other students. Mainly using her as an example.

When I was in school, kids were into it or they weren't and some were smarter than others. Pretty simple stuff. Don't need to write a large essay on it. Also, the ones that got stoned before school and during school usually didn't do as well as the others.....and if they had ADHD...then they had trouble focusing and concentrating and usually needed special help.

Since children are children, its very easy for them not to understand the importance of schooling. They don't understand how important it will be in achieving success to better their future. Their minds cannot fathum it.
Im a big believer that parents who are involved with their children in schooling from the very get go are more likely to develope more success out of school. The parents can mold the ambition in a child early on and continue to lead them the way a parent should.
Now im not saying that anyone that has bad grades has bad parents. But im saying the majority of students with good grades, have parents that are very involved with their success in the classroom. My parents never cared much about my grades, so what reason did i have to care. I was gonna go to my friends house and play video games instead of studing for that quiz on friday. Now ive been on my own for 8 years. I had to do alot of growing up and catch up during that time just to make ends meet. I always regret not doing better in school so that i might get a better job later down the road. Im doing ok now, but i was scared there for a while when i saw why school was important for getting a job. Unloading a truck in the heat of the day for 7 bucks an hour sucked!!!!

Thank god i decided to finally go to college and get a degree!! You can bet yourself then i understood how important my grades were.

Carburetor

there is 2 or 3 things that i would say gets people bad grades

1 sometimes they understand it great and get like 85% and up on test but for whatever reson dont do their homework (whether its because their busy or just dont want to), like i remember in math in grade 7 and 8 i always understoon evrything but didnt usually do the homework and would get like 89% averege on test but like 60% averege on homework and it would equil out to like 75 ish over all (but i have always been doing my homework since)

2 they simply just dont understand what they need to know

3 like u said they are being discouraged by people saying they cant do it or maybe have a teacher they dont get along with (not that the teachers grading them differently because they hate them, but that the students think they are and so then they think why should i even try)

I always regret not doing better in school so that i might get a better job later down the road.

Of course, one has to do very well in school to get a good job, to work for someone. Yet what if we look at those charismatic people who, instead of looking for a job, start their own successful companies? Give jobs to others?

How did they do in school? Was there anybody in your class who has his own company now and is employing hundreds of people? How did he do in school? Was he confirming and did he always listen to what the teacher said or ... ?

Well, its not really the Person that people look at anymore who they believe that are fit for the job. Its the Papers that matter in todays world. Yeah you could train for months and they wouldnt hire you if you had bad grades before. But if you made straight A's your whole life, they would take you right in without any experience and just train you there.

Originally posted by creamsoda
Well, its not really the Person that people look at anymore who they believe that are fit for the job. Its the Papers that matter in todays world. Yeah you could train for months and they wouldnt hire you if you had bad grades before. But if you made straight A's your whole life, they would take you right in without any experience and just train you there.

Though I'm in the EU, not US, I as an employer am looking at 1. work examples and 2. at the Personality. And I'm completely not looking at any papers. Papers can be bought on almost every corner and some teachers judgment don not tell you much about who is standing in front of you. Yet, of course, not all employers are like that.

They've actually done a lot of studies on this. Here's what scientists (and teachers, by the way) know:

* kids learn differently at different times in their lives. Some are ready for complex subjects earlier than others. A lot of this depends on their parents and the home.
* there are neurological connections that have to be made in order to process some kinds of information. This comes with age; it is almost impossible to teach a 6 year old to do calculus, no matter how sophisticated they are.
* not all subjects are equally interesting to the person. We're not robots.
* training can't overcome lack of aptitude. You can train me to do the high jump for the next 20 years, and that still won't overcome the facts that I'm over 40 (and would be over 60 by the end of the experiment) and my muscles aren't as strong as a younger person's. You can train a tone deaf person to read music, but that won't make them into a musician.
* hormones. A lot of teens are more interested in mating/dating/socializing than they are in sitting down and learning
* boredom. Public schools have had to "dumb down" a lot of the curriculum. This means that the very bright ones are quickly bored and quickly get through the material. It's too easy; not challenging.
* emotional problems. Trouble at home or social problems at school or a genetic disability such as depression or all of the above makes it hard to learn.
* diet. Poor food, poor eating habits can cause problems
* overindulgence in entertainment. If you don't run out and challenge your mind, you'll be a poor problem solver and low in creativity.


... that's not ALL the reasons, and a person can have any number of these factors. But that's what some of the research says. Piaget (if memory serves) was one of the leaders in this research (and I think it goes back to the 1940's.)

That is probably why you look at it from a different perspective. Im not saying its bad, I sure as hell wish the U.S. did it the way you do. In the U.S. really, the only thing that matters is papers. Thats how you get a job here these days.

Pardon my incompetence, but isn't it possible to buy papers in the US?
As here it isn't a problem for one to get himself a good-looking diploma.

Hah, if the U.S. people could buy papers, everybody would be a Bill Gates. Nah though, over here you either have to go to school and get a diploma, and go to college to get a degree. If you dont have these certain things, good jobs wont come for you.

Bull. I am not a real fan of this "blame others", or even, "blame something else" mentality.

All things being physically equal (no brain deficiency) little Johnny will make lower grades than little Jack because of lack of self-discipline or lack of parental discipline.

I've seen kids from crappy home lives make great grades and grow up to be financially successful. As Byrd said, we are not robots. Because of this, we can realize when a bit more effort is needed and apply it.

Uh, one minor tweak to the above stated position, and that is the nutritional importance Byrd also pointed out. It can't be overstated how important good and wholesome food is to, not only school kids, but all of us, when we try and use the ol' gray matter.

Exactly. Take my circustance for instance. Lets say that I do not make the best of grades, well, I am really good with electronics and regular logic. As opposing to alot of people I know who make straight A's, there better at book work and can't do most of the things that I can do. Im not trying to brag, I am trying to show a perspective.

>> Hah, if the U.S. people could buy papers, everybody would be a Bill Gates.

As I know Bill Gates does not have a college degree. He dropped out after 1 and a half years in Harvard.

>> Nah though, over here you either have to go to school and get a diploma, and go to college to get a degree.
>> If you dont have these certain things, good jobs wont come for you.

Poor Americans
Or, on the other side, it might make one think about opeing his own business, rather then go looking for a job.

Ahh, I did not know that. Pardon me . I guess, starting your own business over here....BIG Business over here, would be a good key for getting rich or whatever. lol

You can most definately buy diplomas in the US. Unless you have an in with the registrar's office at the uni you're pretending to have gone to, a simple phone call by the job recruiter would easily show them to be fake though. Or did you mean you can get legitimate diplomas for cash in Europe? That'd be absolutely awful!

There is one other reason why kids* get bad grades.

Because they are stupid.














*some kids at least.

Exactly true, some kids are just idiots. "The kid is bored, or unmotivated - that's why he's failing." No, the kid might just be a moron, but every kid to his parents is the smartest kid on Earth. Also, kids just don't care - especially in highschool because these days you're going to have to get at least one graduate degree to be competitive, so it doesn't matter all that much where you go to undergrad as long as you kick ass when you get there. If I can get A's and B's without doing anything, what's going to make me turn off the television just to get all A's?