"But my Teacher is no good. She don't know how to teach me."

Funnily, I heard my student telling me this before. He shifted the whole responsibility of learning to the teacher. Kids nowadays are not stupid, you know? They learned how to shift responsibility at a very young age.

When the student told me this, I agreed with him. And, I kept quiet for a while to let my stand sinked into his brain. He looked exasperated. I gave him the 'i totally know what you mean' look.

Then he said, "So, I am not to blame for my poor results."

I kept quiet again and looked at him.

A few minutes after the silence:

Me: "Is the whole class getting poor results?"
Him: "Yes. Mostly."
Me: "Then it is good."

I kept quiet again.

Him: "Good?"
Me: "Yes, i think it is good."
Him: "How come?"
Me: "This is the time where a mature student will stand out in the crowd and get very good grades. Do you think you are a mature student?" (This student always think that he is very mature.)
Him: "Of course. I am mature for my age."
Me: "Then you are going to score for your exam this year."
Him: "Er. How? I am having a bad teacher here."
Me: "Everyone in your class shares the same teacher, isn't it? So, they will all be taught poorly and get poor results. Imagine now, you just work a little harder to understand the subject better and bingo, you are way ahead of your class. You have something that they don't have."
Him: "What?"
Me: "Maturity."

It is not easy to cover the curriculum outside school hours, but a motivated student can learn at astonishing rates.

Is your child motivated to learn EVEN if he/she has a bad teacher?

(Although I am not taking in anymore students currently, feel free to email me at thelightbulbeffect@gmail.com to discuss about anything. ^_^)