Case Study #4 – ‘Failing Classes’
Brook is an 18 year old freshman at Butler. At his high school, he had been an average student. When he did’t do as well in a class, he usually knew that it was his own fault for not studying and turning in his assignments. He always felt like he was a lot more capable than he was able to demonstrate.
Nonetheless, his first year of college was proving to be more and more challenging. He made it a point to get to every class and tried to take notes, but he never was sure if what he was writing down were the most important point. What made it even more frustrating was watching his roomate – who rarely cracked a book in their dorm room – gloat over the A’s and B’s that he was making in some of the same courses that Brook was taking.
Despite all that, Brook woud make an attempt to read his assignments – particularly the night before a test. However, he couldn’t seem to concentrate and he’d find his mind wondering to plans for the weekend and imagining the fun he’d have at parties. Actually, the drinking and partying was coming close to being the only positive at Butler.
Halfway through the second month of school, he had mostly D’s in all his classes. He was in danger of losing his work study job on campus, which was paying for most of the costs of going to college. If he lost this source of financial aid, that would force him to confess to his parents that he was close to flunking out of school. His dad, a successful attorney, and his mom, and elementary teacher, had always told him that not going to college was not an option. They were convinced that a business degree would serve him well and had planned for years that he would attend their alma mater. However, Brook was failing so miserably in school that he couldn’t even imagine making it through 2 years at Butler, let alone tranferring to a university.
On top of everything, he was stopped last night for a DUI after he’d left an off-campus party. Staring disbelievingly at the ticket and court summons, he realized that conversation with his parents was going to come sooner than he’d planned.
Brook is an 18 year old freshman at Butler. At his high school, he had been an average student. When he did’t do as well in a class, he usually knew that it was his own fault for not studying and turning in his assignments. He always felt like he was a lot more capable than he was able to demonstrate.
Nonetheless, his first year of college was proving to be more and more challenging. He made it a point to get to every class and tried to take notes, but he never was sure if what he was writing down were the most important point. What made it even more frustrating was watching his roomate – who rarely cracked a book in their dorm room – gloat over the A’s and B’s that he was making in some of the same courses that Brook was taking.
Despite all that, Brook woud make an attempt to read his assignments – particularly the night before a test. However, he couldn’t seem to concentrate and he’d find his mind wondering to plans for the weekend and imagining the fun he’d have at parties. Actually, the drinking and partying was coming close to being the only positive at Butler.
Halfway through the second month of school, he had mostly D’s in all his classes. He was in danger of losing his work study job on campus, which was paying for most of the costs of going to college. If he lost this source of financial aid, that would force him to confess to his parents that he was close to flunking out of school. His dad, a successful attorney, and his mom, and elementary teacher, had always told him that not going to college was not an option. They were convinced that a business degree would serve him well and had planned for years that he would attend their alma mater. However, Brook was failing so miserably in school that he couldn’t even imagine making it through 2 years at Butler, let alone tranferring to a university.
On top of everything, he was stopped last night for a DUI after he’d left an off-campus party. Staring disbelievingly at the ticket and court summons, he realized that conversation with his parents was going to come sooner than he’d planned.
