Bulletin Board Post

School

Can I Really Turn My Grades Around?

<div class="ExternalClassDFE1155BF10B403688109606D7AE3EF2">I really don't know what to do with my life anymore. I used to have very good grades in middle school, I used to be at the top of my class. But about two years ago, my grades started falling rapidly. Now I'm struggling with a few Cs and a D I am trying to get up. Midterms, which are being held this week, pushed those grades away, since I am busy studying. But those grades aren't going to disappear. I keep on telling myself that I will never make it to where I want to be. I am currently dreaming of moving to the Big Apple after I get a "nice degree" in college. But am I really going to college?? I always tell myself "Alright. You'll be fine. Next quarter you'll make all As, I promise!" I've said that for a couple of long quarters now. I keep on looking at my peers and think "How is it so easy for them?". I can name at least a couple of thousand students better than me. I keep on thinking about how I'm never going to achieve anything in my life. I've gotten terribly depressed over the past week or so. Midterms made me realize how unprepared I really am in life. I bring myself down constantly. I tell myself that I am a disappointment to my family. My mom is also putting me in a tough situation. She hates my grades. But she keeps on telling me she loves me and I ask to myself, "Why?". She has spent her whole life working for me and my brother and all I can give her are low grades and a bad attitude. I sympathize for her. But she doesn't know that I'm so scared. I haven't looked at my grades yet and I really don't want to. People have been telling me that I am still so young and that I can turn my life around, but can I really? I just want to die. Please help. </div>

<div class="ExternalClass3416E47F0A8D4306832D6FAF4B77E811"><div><div class="ExternalClassDFE1155BF10B403688109606D7AE3EF2">Of couse, yes, you can turn things around, but it might come with a lot of hard work and maybe even some assistance from the outside. It is understandable that your mother would be upset about your grades, but you have to separate that from yourself. She still loves you, but she is likely confused or frustrated about the grades, because in the past you were in the top of the class. Think about when your grades started to go down. Ask yourself if it was when you started middle school, moved to a new school, or if anything might have happened that triggered the change in grades. As you get older there absolutely are bigger demands in the classroom as far as the amount of work you are expected to complete, the increased time you need to spend on studying for tests, and the group or individual projects. In addition to school work, usually your activity schedule is busier too with clubs, sports, dance, volunteer or community work, and you have to really budget your time. Sometimes mental health issues like anxiety or depression interfere with school work, and it makes it hard to concentrate, so focusing in on what the teacher is talking about during instruction time or note taking just is not clear. What about home life? You should set aside a time for homework every day. Even if you don’t have a workbook page to do, you should spend 10 minutes on each class to review and clean up notes, re-read a tough passage, and just keep up on material to make it easier for test time. What about a learning disability? Sometimes they are not detected until later on in school. If reading is an issue that can affect every subject because every subject involves some type of reading. Talk to your mom or your teacher to see if they have any ideas or any of the same concerns. The sooner you get on it, the better. You have some wonderful future plans. If you die or do something to harm yourself, because you are disappointed right now, those plans are not going to happen. We just want to make sure that you are not having any suicidal thoughts, because if so you need to tell your mother right away as this is pretty serious. Sometimes you can get stuck in a negative cycle too and it can be hard to get out of. Make sure you are hanging out with positive people, count your blessing each and every night. Post up some positive phrases that you can read when you need to. In addition to this, get a plan down for getting those grades up, because that seems to be driving a lot of these bad feelings toward yourself. It is fixable. You can do it, stay strong. Laura, Crisis Counselor </div></div> </div>

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