My stuggling student

jmmom
Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:53:18 +0000

I think different things work for different kids who are struggling in one or more courses. So you may have an idea of which of the suggestions folks make here will be most likely to help your S, or maybe he should try pretty much all of them.

I wanted to place strong emphasis on going to each prof’s office hours “early and often.” My S struggled in one course each term in his sophomore year - a new experience for him. He did a number of things (new study partner, bought an alternate text which worked better for him, visited prof ofc hours). Even though part of the problem was that he and the prof were on different wavelengths, it was still important to do this. First, the prof (or TA) has the best course-specific knowledge of what he might be missing. AND, equally or more importantly, profs can’t help but notice when a student is trying to improve. So, they are going to give any possible benefit of the doubt to such a student when grading time comes.

My other suggestion is to see if S’s department has more than one type of academic advisor. In many Engineering schools (where my S is), there is your individual academic advisor (a prof) and there is an advising staff. These advising staff members (usually not actual faculty members) are often more geared toward things like identifying what type of tutoring/academic support… might be helpful. These department- or school-specific advising staff exist, in his schools, in addition to the University-wide academic support services.

Good for him for recognizing where a good part of the problem lies (gaming, procrastination) and good for you for taking a supportive role, rather than a critical one. I think there is a reasonable chance that there will be some improvement just as he comes to understand the different playing field he is on - what tests are like, what it takes to get an A (compared to what it took in hs). But he will need to re-order his time and maybe learn different study habits.

Finally, check in with him on some obvious things - does he attend every class? Go to TA problem set work sessions, if there are such? Does he have study groups?

Last, but not least: this may not be relevant to your son, but was to ours and was very important, imo. Our son was trying very very hard yet was mightily fearful of failing a class. We told him “Just pass” the course. We did not want him to feel any pressure from us that we would be sorely disappointed if he did not bring home an A. I think the removal of that fear, of disappointing the parents, was a freeing up experience for him. Took off an additional stress and let him concentrate on solving the problem rather than be bogged down by the worry. Your situation may not be quite comparable, where it is a number of classes and where he identifies poor priorities as part of the problem. But letting him know you are in his corner and will be pleased to see him improve, even if he doesn’t bring home grades that have been typical of him, might help him more than some would think.