We love our Sara deeply and try to understand her actions or at least give her a chance to tell us what she is thinking. She undermines or sabotages herself many times and from what we are hearing from your advice, we should let her do that and face the consequences. For example, she has always been an A, B student but now that she is in the middle of her freshman year, she decided her first period class was taught by a "stupid woman who has zeroed in on me to pick on and I am not going to do the homework." She didn't and received a D, barely passing. Her mother had two conferences with the teacher and the head of counseling at the school. At each meeting, Sara was obstinate, flippant in her remarks and resented the meeting calling it "dumb" because the class (Critical Thinking) was absolutely useless.
That's funny, in a way. Think about it this way. She said the critical thinking class is absolutely useless. This can mean one of three things.
1. Critical thinking itself is useless.
2. The class itself is useless, even though critical thinking itself is not.
3. Both critical thinking and the class are useless.
Is critical thinking itself actually useless? That's a stupid question, and if she's saying that critical thinking is useless, she's wrong and you simply need to correct her.
How do we know this? How do we know critical thinking is not useless? Well, let's use some
critical thinking to find out. (That's a hint right there.)
First, what is critical thinking? Well, it's thinking, obviously, but not all kinds of thinking are critical thinking, and not all forms of thinking that are not critical thinking are useless. But, nonetheless, critical thinking is the most important form of thinking available to us, in practical terms. What, then, is
critical thinking?
Thinking critically involves the mental application of logic and common sense. It is thinking in a rational, reasonable, effective, and practical way. It's a way of thinking that enables us to reach answers and conclusions that are accurate and attain results that are effective.
Is that useless? Of course not. Without the ability to think critically, we wouldn't be able to solve problems of any kind, we wouldn't be able to make progress, accomplish goals, get things done; we wouldn't get anywhere in life. Essentially, we'd be no different than animals, and, like animals, we'd live simple, boring lives. What do cows do? They stand around all day and eat grass. Why? They lack the ability to think critically. Is that she wants to do with her life? Stand around all day, so to speak, and do nothing? Surely not.
Now, here's the funny part. Since we've just shown that critical thinking is a vital, essential part of life, and we know that she says critical thinking is useless, we can
deduce that she
lacks the ability to think critically, and has defeated her own argument! How can she say that critical thinking is useless without thinking critically about the matter in order to reach that conclusion? It's self-defeating.
Of course, that doesn't address the issue of whether critical thinking is actually
taught in the class. If
that is the problem then it may be a valid complaint. And it certainly wouldn't surprise me. The fact is, most high school teachers are really terrible are their jobs, and their classes really
are useless. Most students in the US come out of high school having learned absolutely nothing. I'm not just bad-mouthing high school teachers here. I say all these things from experience. Sure, there are good high school teachers here and there. I'm friends with one. But they are the exception, not the rule.
Also, she may feel that the level of instruction in the class is too rudimentary, and this may also be a completely valid complaint. Since critical thinking is basically just the application of common sense, she may feel she has common sense and already knows how to think critically, at least in terms of what is being taught in class. Some people are naturally intelligent enough to be able to think critically without having to be taught the basics of common sense. This would depend on the class itself. It's certainly possible to teach effective methods of critical thinking that go beyond the basics and provide real skills.
So, either of these things might be the case, or they might not. But ultimately this whole thing is missing the point. We can't change the fact that high schools are often just a huge waste of time. That's just the way it is. Ok, maybe the class is useless. So what? It's time to
grow up! When she applies to college, they are
not going to care about how "useless" a class may or may not be. They are going to care about
GPA.
college interviewer: "I see you have a D in critical thinking."
student: "Yeah, but that class was totally useless, and the teacher was stupid and singled me out."
interviewer: "Ahhh, I see. Well, that's a very realistic attitude, and I sympathize with you completely. We'd love to have you here at our school."
Yeah right! So, her thinking is backwards here, although perhaps understandably so. High school isn't about learning useful things. It's about getting good grades so you can get into college so you can get the job you
want so you won't have to work at McDonald's your whole life. (Nothing against people who work at McDonald's, but who really wants that career?)
Life is not perfect. Ideally high schools should be structured around learning, but that's not the reality. And it doesn't change the
facts of life, which is that you need a good GPA for college. This outlook that resulted in a D is totally unacceptable. That D is going to sit there on her transcript like a sore thumb, and if she keeps it up, she's only going to get more and more of them, and then where will she be when it's time to graduate? (Hint: McDonald's.)
Time to grow up. Time to join the real world. Just because you don't like your teacher (or your boss, or your whatever) does not mean you can stick your head in the dirt and hope it all goes away. It won't. It will only get worse.
With only a little bit of effort, straight A's in high school is a piece of cake, and there's no excuse for bad grades. Preschool is over. Every grade goes down on the transcript for submission to colleges.
(The good news: freshman year is often excluded from GPA calculations.)
We are understanding from you that it would be best to let her slip this way and not make a big deal about her choice. If so, then we just need to accept it.
No! For the reasons just mentioned. You can't go back in time. A grade is a grade, it's permanent.
