What's a B?

The kids took their semester exams last week and for the first time didn’t do exceedingly well.  It was a bitter pill to swallow since they put in many hours of review and felt confident they were prepared.  They both managed to study everything their history teacher covered in class but didn’t include on the exam.

We talked at dinner last night about what they planned to do to make sure they don’t repeat this on their next exam.   They were so dejected; neither said anything.  I suggested they speak to Mr. M and explain how they studied and what they studied, and see if he could shed some light on where they went wrong.

At this point, Sean said, “Great idea.  I wish I’d learned how to do that in high school.  It wasn’t until I was in college that I talked to a teacher like that.” 

I was incredulous. “How could you not have learned that in high school?  I was always talking to my science and math teachers about extra credit or retaking a test.”

Without thinking, Sean said, “Because I never got a bad grade in high school.”

(I’ll pause to let that sink in…)

As soon as those words were out of his mouth, Michael, Amy and I were bonded in solidarity.  We all burst with laughter and said, “Of COURSE Mr. Perfect Grade Boy didn’t have to talk to his teachers!  What would he have said?  ‘Um, Mrs. Teacher, what can I do to get an even better grade than 100?’”

Yet another thing to add to my, "How Sean and I are Different," list.

As we were cracking up, Sean kept saying, “I didn’t mean it like that!  I didn’t mean it like that!” I knew he was telling the truth – he would never do anything to purposely hurt me or the kids.  And thankfully we were able to laugh at it.

Sometimes the super-smart don’t have much common sense.  That’s not always true for Sean, but holy cow, last night it certainly was.