Madelyn M., Magsig Middle School
Thank you, Father
My dad once told me something. Something that changed my perspective on everything. In 5th grade, I was doing online learning. Covid was prominent in the air, and everyone was afraid that it would last forever. I was apathetic about school. I thought there were bigger problems to worry about instead of fractions. To me, grades didn’t matter. I was so wrong.
I was sitting at the dining room table, staring at my missing assignments. I was trying to get better and actually do my homework because I wanted to make my parents proud. But here I was, right back to where I started.
Suddenly, the silence breaks as I hear my dad’s footsteps growing louder by the second. He comes in the room with a smile on his face. He stops right next to me and looks down at my computer - his smile changed to a disappointed frown.
“That's a lot of missing assignments,” he says, keeping his eyes fixed on my computer.
“I know, I don’t want to do them. They won't affect my grades too much since I have all A’s.”
"Absolutely not,” he says firmly, “when my parents were in school, they got bad grades and didn’t go to college. They ended up having to take multiple bad paying jobs. They grew up miserable. They couldn't do what they wanted because they didn’t care about school. You aren’t going to end up that way. I want you to have a bright future and be able to follow your dreams. I expect you to have all your assignments done this week, okay?”
As my dad left the room, I was left sitting there, assimilating what he had just said. I always knew he had high expectations for me, but I never knew he had a reason behind them. I realized I got to the point in my life where I would let my grades slip and I wouldn’t think twice about it. Hearing my dad’s speech, inspired me to do better.
From that day forward, I decided I would start laying a foundation in my life. I didn’t want to collect missing assignments left and right so I decided I would get ahead in my classes. I would work on my homework at home, and I always made sure I did my best. I got better at completing my assignments, but tests were still a problem. I never studied, so I struggled. As a result, I decided I would study two days before a test. This made sure I was ready and confident.
I’m in 8th grade now. I’ve learned that grades can impact a lot more than people realize, like what jobs you can have. With the time I have left at school, I will try my best to achieve the grades I want so I’ll be able to get a good, supporting job in the future. My dad has led me on the right path, so I just want to say, Thank you, father.
