In my high school Spanish classes, we have finals coming up in two weeks. The course is nearly over, and it's going to be time to take the most important test of the course. For some of the students, the final is their last opportunity to get credit for the class, as I've watched them over the last four months sitting and talking together when they should have been working on learning the material--and then they've gotten upset because their grades are so low. All that aside, though, I've let them know that no matter what their grades up until this point, if they pass the final, they pass the class. For some students, it's a great opportunity to make the best of the situation and spend the next two weeks doing their best to learn the material well so that they can pass the final. Yet today's work was review for that final and several of the students still didn't do what was assigned in class, even though it's work that's designed to help them pass the exam. This is why they're in the situation they're in, and even though I threw them a very generous lifeline, they decided to continue not doing the work that can help them to improve and that can help them to pass the class and get credit for it. They've decided to continue to follow the same strategy of self-sabotage, a strategy that has gotten them into a very bad situation grade-wise and that will undoubtedly lead to a failing grade on the final as well. It's really quite a shame to watch, but the choice is theirs. Personally, I hope to learn from what they're doing and to make sure that I don't do the same thing. I don't want to ever guarantee my future failure by refusing to do the work at hand today. That's simply self-destructive and, unfortunately, far too common among the human beings on this planet.
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