You Have a Pass
It has been an experience watching Cici overcome one adversity after another in school. I still have her text message from the beginning of this school year, reaching out for my help: "Papa, i failed my chemistry test."
She went through a period of questioning whether she was qualified to be in chemistry honors. Everyone else in the class is so smart, she told me. They already know everything and I don't know anything. Maybe I should change to the regular chemistry class. As I said in a previous post, she didn't actually fail the test, but she only got a C, so for her it felt like a failure.
She decided to stick it out in the honors class. On her next test she earned a 97, and finished the six week period with an A in the class. It has only gotten better since then as her confidence has grown. Last night she started to tell me something, then hesitated. Tell me, I said. She was a little embarrassed to tell me but the story came out. Do you remember the nanotechnology project that we were assigned in Chemistry? Yes. Well the teacher told me today that my grade is so high already that I don't need to do the project.
I am so proud of you, Cici. What will you do about the project. I will do it anyway, she told me, and I will try to do an extra good job. I think that is a great idea, I told her. Then I talked to her about an American expression that drew a smile from her:
Teacher's Pet.
She went through a period of questioning whether she was qualified to be in chemistry honors. Everyone else in the class is so smart, she told me. They already know everything and I don't know anything. Maybe I should change to the regular chemistry class. As I said in a previous post, she didn't actually fail the test, but she only got a C, so for her it felt like a failure.
She decided to stick it out in the honors class. On her next test she earned a 97, and finished the six week period with an A in the class. It has only gotten better since then as her confidence has grown. Last night she started to tell me something, then hesitated. Tell me, I said. She was a little embarrassed to tell me but the story came out. Do you remember the nanotechnology project that we were assigned in Chemistry? Yes. Well the teacher told me today that my grade is so high already that I don't need to do the project.
I am so proud of you, Cici. What will you do about the project. I will do it anyway, she told me, and I will try to do an extra good job. I think that is a great idea, I told her. Then I talked to her about an American expression that drew a smile from her:
Teacher's Pet.
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