Student Focus

Biography of a Struggling Student:
Learn from it.

This story may be more than you need to know, but a lot of people tell me they relate and I like transparency. I hope this is helpful to you.

As you know, I’m Seth, and you probably won’t be surprised to learn that I was the struggling student that I work to help nowadays. Yep, I was “that kid.” Kindergarten was fine, but here are some rave reviews quoted directly from my 1st-grade report cards:

“Slow worker. Very easily distracted. Loves school. Wants to be helpful. Very short attention span and never really gets into his work. Exhibits a very deep feeling and enjoyment. He loves stories. If I could only get him stimulated I know he would do well. He is a very thoughtful child. I think he is much brighter than he lets on and my hope is that as he matures and his short attention span increases, he will show greater academic progress.”

Even in first grade, I couldn’t fit in the proverbial box, and it only got worse in later grades. The same sort of comments appeared:

“Lazy. Unmotivated. Not living up to his potential. Daydreams. Needs to work harder. Doesn’t try his best. Doesn’t pay attention. Needs to focus. If he would just apply himself, he’d be okay.”

Year after year, my grades slipped. Instead of developing my strengths, I tried to fit into the expectations of the school. Square peg, round hole. My frustration and hopelessness grew and eventually I gave up trying. Unconsciously, it came down to this: school wasn’t worth the effort since there was little reward and I just ended up feeling bad about myself anyhow. I wasn’t able to access learning in the way it was presented and I felt like a failure.
My grades really began to suffer in classes when I couldn’t fake it anymore. D’s and F’s became the norm.
But things went downhill fast. Failed again.I ended up doing pretty well. Through some twist of fate, I was the student that represent my graduating class at Indiana University by speaking at my graduation