One measure that I observe that evaluates Maturity

[OldRetSWO]

When a kid stops saying that "the teacher" or "the professor" doesn't like me as one of the reasons for their performance issues.
I have three of my own plus a step so I'm basing this on 4 kids and as they moved from Middle/High School on up, I observed this shift in
all of them except my son who went to USNA who never had anything to make excuses about or explain. Really, its about accepting
responsibility for what and how you do.

 

[Capt MJ]

Yes!

This reminds me of the line seared into my brain by my first department head, whom I have mentioned here on SAF before, the grizzled LDO (former enlisted bosun’s mate): “Ensign MJ, there may be good reasons for X, but there is no [brilliant stream of colorful and profane words] EXCUSE.”

 

[brewmeist]

Last year my son got stuck with the known horrible physics teacher at his HS. Not wanting a bad grade, he ended up teaching himself. Mostly youtube. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do...

 

[Heatherg21]

Our DS in in a dual enrollment calc. mat 220 course, the professor teaches remotely via video stream and recorded videos. I have watched them with our DS (way over my head) and he doesn't cover all the different types of problems, only 1 or 2. And to say that his voice is monotone and horrid to listen to is an understatement. DS and classmates have worked together in group chats and seek solutions via you tube and other sites. They too are teaching themselves and finding a way. It has been stressful as 85% of the overall grade is based on 4 tests during the semester. I have watched many a weekend disappear as he spends hours upon hours with a dry erase board and some bad words, but he has managed to pull out a 97 in the class so hard work paid off.

 

[NJDadofDSUSMA2024Hopeful]

Why You Must Accept the Harsh Truth That Nobody Cares and You Need to Work Harder

Nobody said you have to like it, but acknowledging it is a necessity.

www.inc.com

 

[Humey]

While I would agree that most of the time using the excuse that the teacher doesnt like you , seems silly, It isnt always. In my case, I had two teachers who didnt like me. One I think didnt like males, but not sure. In high school, I always took Honors English (including AP English) and always wound up with a A or B+. One semester, I had to take regulard English class and wound up with a C. The next semester I took Honors English again and wound up with an A. I did notice that none of the other males in the class ever scored very high with C being that higest grade in the class (yes i asked) I doubt it was on purpose and I actually mentioned it to the teacher who responded that while she had nothing against the male students she did agree that none of them scored very high in the class. Who knows what happened. Next teacher was in Spanish. Now I am Argentinian so I think she thought I was cocky (which I may have been) In my school you got three grades, one was the actual class, the other was for effort and the third was for whatever. The best grade was AEE (e for excellant.) I wound up geting a AUS (u for unsatifacotry and S for satifactory) She set me aside to tell me that she didnt like how i acted in her class. Now, i was always a goody two shoes throughout school, so i never understood what she meant. I wanted to tell her I would have like a AUU, which basically means i got an A in the class, put no effort in and wasnt a good student. Didnt have the guts to do so. Last was my son. He went to a Jewish day school and didnt really like studying Hebrew and Judaic studies and honestly put no effort in those classes.. He had a Hebrew teacher who we were informed (dont remember by who) that she was going to break my son which she didnt. Overall he did very well in school, but they didnt appreciate his attitude in those classes. They did wind up getting the last laugh. They took a portion of the class to Israel (those who wanted to go and were accepted) and when my wife applied for him, they turned him down because they were afraid that he wouldnt behave. That came from his Hebrew teacher

 

[AROTC-dad]

They took a portion of the class to Israel (those who wanted to go and were accepted) and when my wife applied for him, they turned him down because they were afraid that he wouldnt behave. That came from his Hebrew teacher

So.... This is the same son that is now an Air Force Officer who will pilot a B-52 all over the world?

 

[Holden100]

I went to a Catholic school run by old school Nuns and Brothers. In 1st grade my older brother got hungry and took out his lunchbox. It wasn't lunchtime. His teacher, the strictest of nuns, took it and threw it across the room, smashing it and his lunch. He never did that, again. I'm pretty sure my parents never complained to anyone, and we laugh about it today. It was definitely a story a told my own boys before they started school and when they complain about nonsense.

 

[Humey]

So.... This is the same son that is now an Air Force Officer who will fly pilot a B-52 all over the world?

yes thats him. In kindergarden, they had a bathroom between the two classes. He and another two kids decided to lock themselves inside the bathroom. When the teachers tried to get them out, the opened the doors and the three of them flew out of the bathroom and the class and into the schoolyard. The teachers were running around trying to round the up the three boys. We punished him for this but honestly I thought it was funny and nothing really serious. These were five years old. He actualy was a good kid and a good student but he was never much for some of the BS you have to deal with in school. Throught the 8 years he was at the school, they all these class presentations where they were supposed to sing and dance. If you looked at him closely, you could tell he never sang but was just opening and closing his mouth to fake singing. Yes, I find it weird that he is in the military. I thought it was weird he did organzied sports, becaue he wanted nothign to do with it until he was about 8 years old

 

[Tmac54]

At a recruiting luncheon at an unnamed academy, a member of the commandant's staff who happened to be there by default asked a blue chip recruit seated at our table "What made him so much better than everyone else" at his chosen sport. The recruit said simply, "Sir, I don't think I'm better than anyone, I just try to work as hard as I possibly can". The question itself was repugnant right down to its tone but the young man's answer displayed both humility and maturity. He chose USNA over the unnamed academy, commissioned USMC ground, and was awarded among other things the Bronze star and the Leftwich Award. And the member of the commandant's staff, well I have a feeling Capt MJ may have eventually had that no excuse talk with.