Am I stupid?

[beyondinfinity]

I'm taking geometry in high school, although a freshman, and I failed two tests this semester. I studied for both tests. When I failed the first one, I studied harder for the second one. I was pretty confident for the second test. Unfortunately, I saw my grade today and I received a 7/21 which is failing to a great extent. My average went down tremendously and I have a failing overall grade for this class.
I just hate myself. This grade seems irrevocable to me. One of my greatest fears has come true. I tried to get tutoring in my school and no one was able to find me a tutor. My parents can't afford one. I talked to my guidance counselor and she wants to put me in a "slower" class just for that subject until I move into Trigonometry. I'm fine with that, but the transfer to the "slower" class hasn't started.
This literally makes me cry. The fact that I studied makes me feel like the biggest failure possible. I don't know what to do.

 

[faeriecat]

No, you're not stupid. Different people leads to different ways brains work and how they learn different subjects. I always struggled through English classes, always, where my sister dispises math because of her struggles in math classes.

I think the transfer to the class that will get you more help is a great idea, push your parents and counciler for that ... it is ok to be pushy in this case, because the more you struggle through the class you're not connecting with, the less you're learning.

 

[Zitis1971]

You are definitely not stupid, geometry is not an easy course. I have gone through several classes that I struggled to get the grade I wanted. One thing I do when I don't understand a certain subject very well, is go to youtube and find videos of example problems. There are many great tutors on youtube that will show you examples and run through them step-by-step. In some cases I watched a particular subject and understood it better than when the professor taught it.
It seems like you are trying to do too much in your own strength. God knows you are struggling with the class, pray with him and do your best and He will take care of the rest. I also will pray for you.

 

[Corey]

Ask your teacher for a little extra help as well. Sometimes if you can just get 10 minutes here and there with your teacher alone, it will help out so much. We all learn differently so if your teacher can understand what you need, they may be able to show you something that will really help. Ask if you can come in to school 15 minutes early and meet individually a couple days a week.

Its great that you care about your grades though. I think that shows that you are going ot be fine.

 

[WIP]

I have a thought for you to consider, infinitejewel.

One of my college professors had a photograph on his wall of a bicyclist wearing Olympic gold medal around his neck. There was a caption under the photo that said, "Before I knew how to ride a bicycle, I did not know how to ride a bicycle."

Do you think that Olympic bicyclist was stupid when he/she was learning how to ride that bicycle?

 

[Knotical]

Here is a little more insight. Different people learn in different ways. I struggled with algebra all the way through high school. Never got passed it. Then I took a College Algebra class at a Junior college and things just "clicked."

The point is, just because you are not understanding it right now doesn't mean you never will. Also, it could just be the approach you are taking to learn it. Math has a funny way of having different ways to learn a basic concept. Ask your teacher if there are other ways to learn the concept than what he has shown you so far.

 

[Claudya]

I had good grades most of my school years. But I remember I got a 6 (lowest grade in the German school system) twice, one was a misunderstanding between the teacher and us the class and it was revoked later. The other 6 I got was in a music class. We did a test where we should recognise and identify classical musical instruments from listening samples. I turned out to have 0/15 points. And we'd practices recognising instruments for weeks in that music class. But I didn't recognise any of those instruments, I didn't even guess right. How stupid was that. It's been like 15 years since that happened but my parents still make fun of me for that epic fail.
Geometry can be tough stuff. I don't know why you failed it, but it's not necessarily stupid. Being unable to tell a flute from a trumpet IS stupid. I deserve the CF.net stupidity award way more than you. :p

Can you ask your geometry teacher to take 15 min with you and look at those two tests you failed? Maybe s/he can tell you bit by bit what went wrong and where you lost those points. Doing that used to help me a lot when I was a student.

 

[beyondinfinity]

I have a thought for you to consider, infinitejewel.

One of my college professors had a photograph on his wall of a bicyclist wearing Olympic gold medal around his neck. There was a caption under the photo that said, "Before I knew how to ride a bicycle, I did not know how to ride a bicycle."

Do you think that Olympic bicyclist was stupid when he/she was learning how to ride that bicycle?

This is very interesting! It's also inspiring.

 

[beyondinfinity]

I wish I can quote you all and thank you one by one, but I don't want to spam the page Thank you all so much! Thank you for making me laugh, smile, and giving me hope!

 

[mcmurry]

Math was always my worse subject, and I always took remedial math. I also made the superintendants list my freshman year. Everybody learns differently. There's verbal-hearing, there's visual-seeing, and repitition-doing it over and over.
My problem is that I have never had a job in which I did much more than simple adding, subtracting, the occaisonal multiplying and very little division. Even in the local Jr. college, I took remedial algebra lab. And just because you're having trouble in one subject does not make you stupid. If you didn't request help, well then maybe. Knowing that you have a problem and requesting help make you smart.

 

[beyondinfinity]

That is all very true and sagacious. Thank you so much.

 

[YosefHayim]

No you're not stupid. The school is. I've been there. There's a nice little website I found that I can teach myself with. It's called Google.com

Don't let your success in school get you discouraged. School means nothing in the end. Everyone has the potential to learn. If you want to get up to speed, I would recommend putting away any distractions, and doing some learning for yourself. There are plenty of sources online. There are YouTube videos that break things down very simple.

Perhaps you learn a specific way. There are different types of learners which is where I believe the school is at fault. They expect EVERYONE to learn the SAME THING in the SAME WAY. They don't seem to break down what needs to be broken down, or they teach in a very diluted way.

Bringing it even further, if you got into a healthier diet you could also find your self learning better. Avoid things like junkfood, especially Monosodium Glutimate (MSG). Also take exercising into consideration. These things can help you focus.

If you want further help you could PM me.

But I believe that if you want to learn, you have to find out how you learn and teach yourself. School these days are mostly going to leave you hanging, however I suggest staying after school for help. Ask your parents or friends. Don't ask for answers. Ask for guidance, so that you may learn.

May you be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ.

[video=youtube;eZJoCfgAEuE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZJoCfgAEuE[/video]

 

[beyondinfinity]

Thank you very much!

 

[tim-from-pa]

No you're not stupid. The school is. I've been there. There's a nice little website I found that I can teach myself with. It's called Google.com

Don't let your success in school get you discouraged. School means nothing in the end. Everyone has the potential to learn. If you want to get up to speed, I would recommend putting away any distractions, and doing some learning for yourself. There are plenty of sources online. There are YouTube videos that break things down very simple.

Perhaps you learn a specific way. There are different types of learners which is where I believe the school is at fault. They expect EVERYONE to learn the SAME THING in the SAME WAY. They don't seem to break down what needs to be broken down, or they teach in a very diluted way.

Bringing it even further, if you got into a healthier diet you could also find your self learning better. Avoid things like junkfood, especially Monosodium Glutimate (MSG). Also take exercising into consideration. These things can help you focus.

If you want further help you could PM me.

But I believe that if you want to learn, you have to find out how you learn and teach yourself. School these days are mostly going to leave you hanging, however I suggest staying after school for help. Ask your parents or friends. Don't ask for answers. Ask for guidance, so that you may learn.

May you be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ.

[video=youtube;eZJoCfgAEuE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZJoCfgAEuE[/video]

Your advice is very wise, especially about diet relating to cognitive abilities.

The video is profound also, as this is the type of stuff (particularly medications and flu vaccines) I rant about over in the health section.

This forum does not like people to talk about conspiracy theories, but despite the forum's stance,

You are correct, so I edited your theory out.

 

[providence]

The video is profound also

On the contrary, one of its absurdities is to link fluoride to sarin gas just because the latter has a fluorine atom. The fluorine atom (which is not "the" main ingredient as claimed) drops off, while the remaining part is what seemingly kills you in a couple minutes. Structure matters in chemical reactivity: Salt contains a chemically very similar chlorine atom, and chlorine gas has been a chemical weapon too, but salt is essential for life; so too carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen are essential for life, but when bonded in a certain way is cyanide. The carbon-fluorine bonds, as in Prozac, would in contrast be very nonreactive, and I don't believe it's about the essential psychological properties of the compound (see http://www.halocarbon.com/halocarbon_media/BenefitsToAddingFluorine-cphishowdaily.pdf). Sure, you don't need fluorine in your system, but let's not exaggerate and say it behaves at all like sarin rather than chlorine, and it's not about "Nazis making you docile." These are just basic principles about chemistry that were treated simplistically and, I think, disingenuously blurred by the video author (who may have had too much fluoride as a child :D). This is off-topic for this thread though, but I thought that it should be stated. Elements of truth, fear, and anecdotes promote a conspiracy theory, and descending into such foolishness and disingenuousness I think can itself be controlling.

 

[tim-from-pa]

On the contrary, one of its absurdities is to link fluoride to sarin gas just because the latter has a fluorine atom. The fluorine atom (which is not "the" main ingredient as claimed) drops off, while the remaining part is what seemingly kills you in a couple minutes. Structure matters in chemical reactivity: Salt contains a chemically very similar chlorine atom, and chlorine gas has been a chemical weapon too, but salt is essential for life; so too carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen are essential for life, but when bonded in a certain way is cyanide. The carbon-fluorine bonds, as in Prozac, would in contrast be very nonreactive, and I don't believe it's about the essential psychological properties of the compound (see http://www.halocarbon.com/halocarbon_media/BenefitsToAddingFluorine-cphishowdaily.pdf). Sure, you don't need fluorine in your system, but let's not exaggerate and say it behaves at all like sarin rather than chlorine, and it's not about "Nazis making you docile." These are just basic principles about chemistry that were treated simplistically and, I think, disingenuously blurred by the video author (who may have had too much fluoride as a child :D). This is off-topic for this thread though, but I thought that it should be stated. Elements of truth, fear, and anecdotes promote a conspiracy theory, and descending into such foolishness and disingenuousness I think can itself be controlling.

Perhaps the video author does exaggerate somewhat, but the premise of his video is indeed right on. I agree that disinformation given by "conspiracy theorists" does not help the cause, but then again, the established order, e.g. AMA and ADA are even bigger purveyors of disinformation--- so one has to take the spirit of what each side is saying, and I agree and side with the video. The truth is, fluoride is not that healthy for you. The fluoride found in natural form is not the same as the convoluted form found in your dentist's office. Same with salt. I don't think salt causes high blood pressure, on the contrary, lack of it does. But then again, the processed salts they use for processed foods is more or less an industrial salt, and not something healthy as natural salt. Anything man seems to alter is not good.

The video is an exaggerated attempt at basically saying look around. Once happy kids are now over-medicated kids, and depressed. It does not take any special insight to see how abysmally wrong society is going. And yet people have been following advice of the "experts" (like the mother) and are fatter and sicker than ever. In that case, I think the exaggerations are needed in the video to point this out so that if hits one hard. And the video ends with the ludicrous idea that "it was Maya's fault" after they screwed her up royally. Also remember, it's only a cartoon bringing the point across.

 

[YosefHayim]

Same with salt. I don't think salt causes high blood pressure, on the contrary, lack of it does. But then again, the processed salts they use for processed foods is more or less an industrial salt, and not something healthy as natural salt. Anything man seems to alter is not good.

Bummer that your response got edited out. I really don't understand why ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶p̶i̶r̶a̶c̶y̶ biblically fulfilled prophecies would be taboo on a Christian Forum.

Anyway,

You are correct about how man made food has had an impact on health.

There's a I guy I've been meaning to look more into. His name is Paul Nison of Torah Life Ministries and I watched few of his testimonies about how a raw vegetable diet improved his life and cured him of an ailment. Upon reading into the torah, he discovered that it has much to say about health and diet, which brought him into Messianic Judaism.

[video=youtube;K303aeLhFFs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K303aeLhFFs[/video]