Choices

When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.
- William James

Up until this year, our youngest simply waved textbooks over his head and the contents sucked in by osmosis. That doesn’t work anymore. So I confronted him with putting effort into his subjects. He justified coasting, “Why bother? Will I ever really need algebra?” I gave him possible scenarios and his eyes glazed over.

"Your education is like a funnel, the less you learn now, the narrower your choices become later. It diminishes your capacity to understand more complex issues. It reduces your learning/studying strategy options."

I hope that sinks in.

He’d like to take Latin instead of Spanish, but if his grades don’t improve, he’ll repeat Spanish 1. Right now the world is open to him, full of promise.

Learning the hard way seems like such a waste of time.