star asks: How do I, as a 17-year-old student, improve my grades enough for my parents to be proud of me?
Hi Star –
Sorry I wasn’t able to answer your question earlier. I must say, I’m impressed with your persistence in “hounding” me to answer you, though! If you show that same persistence in your studies, I’m sure you’ll do great!!
My main answer to you, in terms of how to improve your grades, would be the same as my answer to CaNdAcE’s question about school skills for teenagers (You can find it by typing keywords into the search box on the right side of the page here).
But Star, I think there’s another issue here I want to address with you. You want to make your parents proud. Now I don’t know you or your parents, but I know enough humans to know that Pride is a very, very tricky thing. Some parents are proud of their kid no matter what bad things that kid does. Other parents can’t be made to feel proud of their kid, no matter what good or great things that kid does. The kid could get straight-A’s in school, rescue a drowning child in a river, or make millions of dollars and buy those parents a mansion and three cars… and they still won’t feel proud! It’s not about the kid; it’s about them. They’re just incapable of feeling pride. Or maybe they’re able to feel it, but they’re not able to express it to their child.
Again, I don’t know you or your parents, so perhaps it is possible for you to win their pride through better grades. But I just want to warn you, if you raise your marks and still don’t feel they’re taking pride in you, your job is to feel that pride about yourself! Let them have their own strengths and weaknesses, and move on in your own life. The more real pride you feel in yourself, the less you’ll need others to feel it about you.
And this is a terribly important lesson to learn in life, Star. One which learning at 17 is a wonderful fantastic accomplishment.
So hit those books, raise those grades, and see where that takes you. You’re at the beginning of adulthood, Star. Your whole future lies ahead. Do your best, and step forward. The world is yours!
Cheers,
Shirelle
