26 January 2012, 10:41 am
To make a long story short, I am the 2nd oldest of four siblings. 3 of us dropped out of high school and the youngest (13 years old) is currently a 7th grader. He is constantly absent, tardy, and is often sent home by the school nurse. We've asked him if it was because he was being bullied to which he denies. He attends Luther Burbank Middle School in Highland Park, CA. For those of you who don't know, it's in a rough neighborhood in East Los Angeles ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Los_An… ). We are a first generation Filipino-American family. My mom is a single-mother. Dad is a deadbeat. My brother doesn't have any learning disabilities and prior to junior high, he was a straight A student. We are trying our best to motivate and to encourage him to finish high school, but it seems like nothing is helping. He is always "sick" or gets sent home by the school nurse for things I believe to be all in is head such as: a sudden and unexplained stomach ache; a sprained ankle that "miraculously" heals an hour after stepping foot inside his room; self induced pink eye (I think he irritates it on purpose to make it look red because there is no crusting and it goes away within minutes). Anyway, here is my question: Is there anything we can do to really motivate him to go to school everyday and to stop these lame excuses he comes up with to be sent him by the school nurse? I was thinking about having my family write essays about our experience as life as a high school drop out and then sending 30 copies to his English teacher without him knowing. My hope is that his teacher would have the class read it out loud together and then only at the end would he know it was from his family. Is this to dramatic? If you were his teacher, would you find this approach a hassle rather than helpful? A little more history: I ended up obtaining a GED through Job Corps. and then I went on to a vocational school (Glendale Career College) to be a Vocational Nurse. Out of my family I am the only one to finish some form of higher education. Also, my mother doesn't seem to be on our side when it comes to our tough approach on enforcing a no excuse policy for missing school, being tardy, and being sent home early. She babies him way to much and is easily convinced whenever he puts on a sick puppy act in the morning. Any help with how to get my mom to stop being such a softie regarding my brothers education would also help. Thank you for reading this far! I hope there are actually some REAL teachers out here on Yahoo Answers possibly reading this while on a lunch break or whatever and not just some internet trolls. Thank you again!... Read More »
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