This. I had enough knock-down-drag-outs about how Dad should just ignore all those Unsatisfactory effort marks -- if I was getting 100s on the tests, why should I expend any more energy than I had to? If there had been no grading at all, fugeddaboutit.

When ita was talking about her boss's comments in Natter the other day, this (my experience with this) came to mind. In elementary school, the default grading system was E(xcellent), S(atisfactory), and M(inimal), and it was a mix of progress, achievement and effort. My mother was looking at two of the five little girls on my street who were getting more Es than I was, but couldn't (academically speaking) walk and chew gum at the same time. When third grade rolled around, she insisted I be graded by the A/B/C scale, which was offered, but discouraged.

Suddenly, I was getting all As in every catgory on my report card, and each and every A was accompanied by a 2 for effort. She told me if I could get As without trying, that I shouldn't sweat it.

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I hated homework of the busy work sort, and avoided doing homework as much as possible until we got past the busy work stage and into the fun stuff, like essays and lab write ups. Not too shockingly, I hate work of the busy work sort in general.

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I shoulda had Cindy's mom -- of course, the worst part of all that work ethic, don't just coast simply because you can, stuff was that dad turned out to be right.

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I shoulda had Cindy's mom -- of course, the worst part of all that work ethic, don't just coast simply because you can, stuff was that dad turned out to be right.

Yeah. No, see this is where my mother didn't get me, and I do get Ben. I'm not going to have fights with him about it. I'm trying to show him the error of my his ways, before it's a problem. He'll probably keep getting all As and Bs, until high school or college, but he won't know how to study those subjects that aren't a snap for him. That's when I had trouble. I learn most things easily, but when I run across something that takes a little effort, I'm nearly offended by it. I know now, how to plough through, but it took a lot of work, and a lot of tears, and I still hate it to death.

My mother was probably like ita. She did the work because it was expected of her. She had no idea how wonderfully slack-o-rific I could be. It never occured to her. She didn't see it in my dad, because he worked for himself, and so chose to do things he liked and was interested in and skilled at.

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You can not do homework? Who would want to do that?

Me. I had phone calls to make, 92010 to watch, pimples to pop. I was WAY too busy for homework.

looks at pile of work on desk

Some things never change.....

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I learn most things easily, but when I run across something that takes a little effort, I'm nearly offended by it.

I'm apparently Cindy's mother. Brendon can't comprehend that at some point he won't get it just by occupying a chair in the class. He has zip for study habits.

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I did my homework, but I managed to get most of it done when teachers finished lessons early, between classes, on the bus, in homeroom, etc. I rarely spent more than 30 minutes doing homework at home--both because I was the Smart Kid in my tiny rural school system, and because we didn't have as much homework back in ye olden days of the 70's and 80's as it sounds like kids get these days.

I do think it would've been good for me to be challenged as I was growing up, but I don't know how my parents or teachers could've managed it. As it stands, I never really learned to apply myself and work hard until I started writing novels. Who knows, maybe my career choices would've gone better and I'd be in a better financial place if I hadn't been able to coast through my first 22 years on raw intelligence and writing skill. Or maybe it wouldn't have mattered--I didn't start working hard until I found something that didn't come easily to me that I actually cared enough about to work at anyway.

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I used to be like that. But I also tended to fear my mother's wrath so it was probably a wash. She also told me I'd have to be twice as good to get half as far so I'm surprised I didn't have an ulcer by sixteen.

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I did my homework. During my last year of high school it got up to about 4-5 hours a night plus weekend trips to the local University libraries. My first year of college seemed pretty easy.

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I never developed study habits. The downside of picking up most things very very fast is if I didn't learn something by paying attention in class, I didn't know it, period. (Which explained my math teachers' confusion and distress when their brilliant little class participant regularly bombed tests.)

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