re: Anyone have a kid that just doesn’t care about school?

Yes.
It's very frustrating, is all I can say. He worked himself OUT of honors classes when he went to his H.S. for 7th grade. We pulled our hair out almost every day he was in school from PreK until he graduated high school.

Sharp mind, intelligent, good athlete, talented musician, simply would not work. Pulled lots of Cs and Ds when he should have been a 4.0 or better student. He did come to understand that he HAD to put in some effort to get out on time in May of his graduation year.

He's not in school, now, but wants to get network and software certifications. He's good at stuff he applies himself to. But I worry for him. I quit nagging him, I try to encourage him to use his talents well, but that's as far as I will go. Anything beyond that and he will do his level best to shock me, in a negative way. He's tough and hard-headed.

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Pulled lots of Cs and Ds when he should have been a 4.0 or better student. He did come to understand that he HAD to put in some effort to get out on time in May of his graduation year.

He's not in school, now, but wants to get network and software certifications. He's good at stuff he applies himself to. But I worry for him. I quit nagging him, I try to encourage him to use his talents well, but that's as far as I will go. Anything beyond that and he will do his level best to shock me, in a negative way. He's tough and hard-headed.

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The world needs ditch diggers too.

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He’s got a 3.0

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He’s 10

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You're the problem.

He will not talk to you when you're old. Sorry

Unironically a good idea

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Anyone have a kid that just doesn’t care about school?

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Yep. IT has been a fight until about the beginning of her sophomore year. I THINK it is finally starting to click that she completely controls her future and just cuz she wants to be a nurse doesn't mean she can be one with the grades she has made in the past. I took EVERYTHING away from her...it didn't make a damn difference until she started looking at colleges and what GPA she needs to get in. Hit her hard. I have seen a change in her finally, just hope it sticks.

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Right? My little one is definitely too young for these conversations, but I feel like I would drive her around a poor neighborhood and tell her that's where people live who don't care about school.

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Sorta similar, when my 1 kid was around 6, he got in trouble for something small, I have no idea what it was. But he said he didn't like the rules and wanted to live in a house with different rules.


I immediately grabbed my keys and told him to put his shoes on, we were leaving. He starts putting his shoes on and asked where we were going. I told him I was going to drive him to another neighborhood, he could pick the house that he thought had better rules, and I'd drop him off and he'd live with that family forever.

He looked at me confused, and I said something like, "Hurry up, I gotta get home to make your brother dinner."

I thought it would just do the trick, and it did but he started freaking out and crying unlike I expected and it was probably a little harsh...or he was a tad too soft at that age.

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One of my nephews is 15 and doesn't give a shite about school. His 2 sisters win all sorts of academic awards too

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He has two sisters….


One was just accepted into CU-Boulder last week. The other is in gifted classes in middle school.

Priorities between the 3 are polar opposite.

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Priorities between the 3 are polar opposite

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Same at our house. Oldest graduated with a 4.0 with 21 hours already at LSU, she is now a Junior at LSU and this is her 4th semester there. Could not be more different. One thing I never try to do is compare. While the sophomore is trying now, school is just a struggle bus for her. She can study with a tutor every night for an hour, she does practice test and does fine then on her geometry test she gets a 73.

Sometimes I feel that grades aren't everything. Interest in learning new things, whatever that might be, is paramount. I've worked with "smart people" that did dumb shite or had attitudes. I've worked with "simple" people who were very clever.
I'm assuming the end goal here is education for occupation in life.

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Kid is at a highly rated school and puts very minimal effort into his school work. Doesn’t do much homework. No initiative. No desire to be there. Nothing. The problem is that the kid is brilliant. He’s got a 3.0 by doing the bare minimum. If he actually put the effort into school like he did extracurricular activities, he’d be a 4.0 student. We’ve taken things away. He doesn’t care. Grounded. Doesn’t care. Will just serve the time and go back to coasting.

Thoughts? Experiences? Just looking for angles.

He’s 10 in the 4th grade.

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You described my son perfectly. IQ is out of this world. Makes honor roll because he's brilliant.

However....

This past year he turned a corner. Started studying more, picked up a hobby, and more importantly....GOT A JOB. The flip switched all on its own about two months ago. He's a freshman now in HS, but this was pretty much his attitude for the first 15 years of his life.

Now I'm beyond proud when I talk about the past few months. LOL