So when I went through school you’d have two types of struggling kids:
Kid A would struggle to pass tests, but work hard and get every assignment done so they can keep their average in check. Teachers like this kid. Not that there’s anything wrong with this kid, but teachers project virtue on them sometimes just to shame kid B when kid B asks for consideration.
Kid B is who I assume many people here were and who I was. Kid B struggled to get from start to finish of all of the assignments that kept popping up and per haps couldn’t do the same task for very long. Kid B, however, could get high grades on most tests. If Kid B asks for some consideration to pass the class as they’ve gotten the information but weren’t able to finish all of the assignments and are told no, because Kid A exists and “I can stand someone who struggles with the tests but does the work, but I’ll never tolerate someone who is lazy”.
I have cptsd from years spent as kid B, but I’m pretty sure that’s a generic thing that happened to others as well. I had that quote shoved down my throat by a double digit number of adults. And the too-radical thought is this: I believe the teaching approach that holds kid A as a paragon of virtue and kid B as a lazy snot is quite discriminatory and maybe those are just two differently struggling kids. And maybe some consideration should be given to both. And maybe PTSD causing trauma should be withheld from both groups
I was definitely kid B. Little assignments, I wouldn’t remember and big assignments were too intimidating to start until the very last minute.
I remember in 8th grade we got our first really serious big assignment. My teacher specifically looked at me and said: you have 8 weeks to do this, you’ll need 8 weeks to do this, this isn’t one of these things where you can start a week before it’s due and pass.
All i heard was that i can pass wjen i start 2 weeks before.
I started on the friday before, so i still had 3 good days. But saturday, my friend wasn’t home from whom i needed the book from to do my assignment, so i still had the whole sunday. I got an A and learned that school is a scam
I’m especially proud of the paper I started in college 3 hours before it was due, on a book I never read. Got a B!
I would read book reviews and critics’ opinions to shape my opinion of the book. I enjoyed many of the books I was assigned to read; others I had zero interest in.
My stepmother admitted a few years before she died that she was angry at me when I was in high school because I would sit down to write an essay assignment the night before it was due and pound out a single draft in a half hour that was ready to be turned in when she always had had to do multiple drafts.
Oh. You just reminded me of when teachers tried to instill “Good writing practices” on us. There would be a right draft due in one week, first draft due the next, then the second draft, then the revised draft, then the final paper, and then the revised final paper.
I always hated going through that bullshit. Why do I need ten versions when it’s just easier to do it right the first time!
If she had only known the anxiety that drove that draft out of you she probably wouldn’t have been mad. Well, if you’re like me at least.