<p>My teen (will be senior this fall) got 2 C's on her report card this past semester because she was busy on Facebook the last month before exam time, got behind in calculus, stayed up late studying for calculus at the last minute, got a D on the exam anyway, then was so weary after the calculus test that she slept thru the alarm clock and woke up in time for her hard chemistry test, which she thus never studied for. So lost her B in chemistry and went down to a C.</p>
<p>How to wake her up and light a fire under her? She is a media baby, first reading tons of fun novels, now writing constantly on Unleash</a> Your Imagination - FanFiction.Net or else on Facebook. </p>
<p>She goes to boarding school, but even at home in 10th grade I couldn't get her to stop all the media (she was reading constantly).</p>
<p>She is lazy and hasn't a clue about what to do with her life. I can't get her motivated to go on college trips, to do anything. She has the stats to do a math-based major, or anything really, if she were motivated. She has few few ECs, as well. How could she, she would rather be reading or doing her media thing. </p>
<p>What would you parents do? If only I could ship her off to India with no computers and just let her cope!</p>
<p>My first B and my first C were in PreCalc. It was just a plain difficult class without putting in a lot of effort (which I refused to do because I absolutely hated the class).</p>
<p>Taking away her media access until she demonstrates that she can, indeed, bring her grades up seems like the logical solution. I've never gotten a C until senior year, when I just had a terrible teacher who'd never taught AP Chem (or high school) before. Anyway, my parents would definitely, at that point, restrict my computer access.</p>
<p>Put in some effort, dear parent, and sit by her to make sure she studies. It's annoying to her, probably, but effective.</p>
<p>Media might be a long-term goal, but this is a discipline issue; Facebook doesn't do much good and the refusal to work is a bit ... pathetic.</p>
<p>Introduce her to academic forums and set an easy ultimatum so that if she refuses to meet such an easy ultimatum you're (nearly) sure she doesn't know the meaning of seriousness. In that case, show it to her: take away her speakers and get an administrator's account on her machine so it shuts down her account at 8-9.00 PM (to do this on Windows, use the "Net User" function in Command Prompt). That will seriously affect her ability to do work at the last minute. That is draconian, I know. In fact it will hamper a lot of good things that can be done after 9.00 PM, but you see, it would motivate her to read TEXTBOOKS and to SLEEP even if just to reach the goal of overturning your wrath.</p>
<p>Now on the subject issue, I would like to point out that quantitative skills are rather essential. Further, there really isn't much of an excuse for not doing basic, simple skills like rudimentary stuff like the mere simplicities present in any High School subject. It simply does not become difficult or complicated; if she thinks otherwise, let her try an extracurricular academic subject and see how strange real-world Physics models or computer programming can get. For those who would think that one may not use skills seemingly unrelated to one's professional interests, I point you to YouTube, where you can search for Steve Jobs' 2006 commencement address, and hear what he had to say about calligraphy classes and the inability of the person to know what will become useful.</p>
<p>One last point: the value of reading depends on what you read (most romance novels, for example, should'nt count as beneficial media) and while our interpretations are subjective and psychology is inexact, what actually happens is real. Surrounding herself with petty things isn't going to help. And being a passive, intaking being is really silly in a world that values production. Again, the pscychology is inexact, but what would you do if she can't get away from taking in the work of others, contributing nothing herself?</p>
<p>Let her write: Mathematics, poetry, discourse, whatever. You don't learn calculus by just reading a book (at least for me and the vast majority of tutorees and classmates I've had), and you're better off in that department with the classical pen and paper. I am unfamiliar with the mastery of Haiku or Materials science through simply reading the work of others, and honestly I would be sceptical about a piece of Fan Fiction until I see it.</p>