Trust but Verify Academic Progress
Your student should be heading home soon, or already home sleeping off exam week. I remember it took at least two days before I was human again. When their electronic grades become available, you need to do one more thing. Review their fall performance. Yes, take a look at the grades. Oh, and if you haven’t been doing this, insist on seeing all the semesters you may have missed. (tsk-tsk)
For a few of you, this may seem, well, invasive. You may remember your first semester, or first-year and quietly cringe. After all, you may have no moral grounds to stand on based on your own history. That’s fine.
Don’t stand on the shoulda-coulda-woulda soapbox if you can’t. However, as their parent, you have every right to discuss their academic performance ESPECIALLY if you are funding any part of their college experience. If you need some fortifying reasons, see below.
College in the 2020s costs twice as much as a college in the 1990s and twice again as much as they cost in the 1970s. 50 years ago you could pay off your loans in say, 5 to 10 years. They were no fun, but with good budgeting and a steady job, you could handle it. That loan was an inconvenience. Today’s loan repayments can rival house payments. If the results are not there, it is time to re-think your financial commitment.
Classes that have D’s or F’s will not credit towards graduation. They have to be taken again AND paid for again. There is little room in college class schedules for makeup courses. And, there’s that cost of going another semester or even a fifth year. Sadly, only 41% of all freshmen in the country actually graduate in 4 years. Required makeup courses can add another semester or two to your budget,
Grades are made up of two things; commitment (meaning consistent activity) towards achieving good grades, and the practical skills of listening, note-taking, and test handling. Let’s address the practical skills first. Being a good student is not some genetic gift. It is a teachable skill. Ask to see their course notes in a class they’ve struggled in. If they are unintelligible, suggest they visit Student Services and ask to work with a tutor. Tutors are a godsend, and could actually make it easier to be a good student. If the notes are good, check on class attendance. If they are not making Monday or Friday classes, that will hurt. It is a truth that attending class combined with good notetaking and adequate study, will almost always result in a passing grade. The commitment part is just a sum of consistent actions towards that goal.
Make a decision based on what you see and what you expect. If they are a freshman, it is not uncommon for it to be harder than they expect their first semester. Help them make the changes needed to radically improve the next semester.
Poor grades are a smoke signal. It is not a time to rant, but a time to ask lots of questions. Sometimes, there .are extenuating circumstances like noisy roomie, or a party floor dorm. The sounds bouncing off the hardwood floors my freshmen year drove me crazy, even though we were the last room on the backside of the hall. I had to escape to the library to get my work done. Although branded a “bookworm”, the truth is my parents had placed a certain grade point average expectation on me. I liked college and did what was needed to keep myself on track.
Dig into the details, my friend. Have your student develop a plan to improve their study process and their grades. Be sure to spell out the consequences of not doing this, and have the fortitude to follow through if they don’t. Sometimes a consequence is needed to get the desired result.
Next week, a great employment opportunity for your student during their school breaks AND their future- don’t miss it!
Until Next Time,
All My Best,
Bonnie Burkett
