adhd student: i love learning and i actually hunger for knowledge, but the way the school system currently operates doesn’t work well for people with brains like mine. i am capable of maintaining acceptable and even good grades, but it takes about 3x the time and effort of the average student. all my life i have been receiving messages, overt and subtle, that i am deficient, lazy, and/or weird for my inability to perform well in that environment, and my self-worth has been utterly decimated as a result.
what ppl hear:
Also
Adhd person: I’m naturally good at remembering information and am lucky enough to be good at standardized tests but because of this I’ve never had to try in school and now that the work is exponentially harder I’m struggling
What ppl hear: I’m lazy and don’t wanna put in any effort
Also See:
Adhd person: I have this one hyperfixation and I know everything there is to know about it. (Ie, I can read Korean, I taught it to myself!)
What ppl hear: My hobbies are more important than passing school and being successful in life
A reminder that turning in assignments for partial credit is better than not turning them in at all. It is. Even if you think you’ve done a bad job and are ashamed of your work, or it’s way overdue, you take whatever you can get. Partial credit dramatically improves your grade over a zero, and I’m always astounded by how often even the smartest kids don’t really comprehend that. 60% is worlds better than 0%. Even 10% is going to help you. Letter grades are misleading and are not created equal. “F"s are mathematically valuable. Turn that late assignment in.
In high school I started doing grade math obsessively (I know I know), and I realized that sometimes a 40% on an assignment would push me to the next letter grade. It’s okay. It’s okay if everything isn’t perfect. You have other things to worry about. Just swallow your pride and hand in the half-finished homework. Anything is better than nothing.
ifesbob 