The kid got a job, skipped his AP exam, and I am overjoyed.

I teach in an Open Enrollment district, if we have room, we take the kids from around the county. No one likes us because our district pays its teachers well. I teach in a high school that is about 60% low SES kids, and the remaining 40% are kids who Open Enrolled. I have a lovely AP population, but they are mostly low SES.<br><br>I have a kid, and I am sure many of you have him too. If he were to work 1/4th as hard as he talks, he would probably be the highest performer in my class. Instead, he struggles to get Ds on my easiest assignments. His parents are impatient with him, he struggles to pay attention, and he recently was retained in 11th grade. We all know this kid is going to drop out, and at this point, probably at the end of this year.<br><br>Last week, he signed up for the AP exam. This is the 4th time he's signed up in the month of April, and the 4th time he begged me to make sure he could take the test. He was signed up in December, and promptly forgot and skipped it. Then he was signed up for the February inclimate weather date, and skipped that as well. We have a third make up date in July, and he skipped that too. Last week, I joked that since the test was so long, I would feed the kids pizza and if they stayed until the end, there would be ice cream. He signed up, and promptly skipped.<br><br>I met with his parents in the morning. They begged me to talk to him, to make sure he actually took the test this time. I smiled weakly and said I would do my best.<br><br>After school, I was monitoring the kids who were waiting for their parents to pick them up. This lovely child approached me and said, "I don't know if I can take the AP test tomorrow." I said, "You can't take the test, you've skipped it 4 times. Your parents are upset, and I don't want to get yelled at. If you can't take the test, you need to figure out what you are doing tomorrow." He said, "I have it figured out. I have a job now, and I'm skipping the test to go to training." I was so excited. My lovely child is going to go out into the world and hopefully make something of himself. This is a kid who, if he can't see the answers to a crossword on his phone, will throw the puzzle across the room. He got a job.<br><br>There are kids who need to be pushed, and there are kids who need to be caught. I work my hardest for both types of kids. This is the first time I have been so overjoyed to have one of my lovely children fail.<br><br>Edit to add: This boy did not fail because I gave up on him. He failed because he was in eleventh grade and reading on a 4th grade level. I worked with him privately, I worked with him in group instruction. I stayed after school with him, and I met with him in the morning with him. I modified assignments, I simplified assignments, I made things easier for him. I got him extra help in the form of social services, therapy, extra academic support, and still, he could not do the work. I even begged his parents to let him out of my AP class, but they wanted him to have the college and career ready experience.<br><br>He is better off. If I can get him to go to a trade school, that is still a college and career ready path. This boy was never going to college, and he was never going to succeed in my class. Yeah, I should probably have just let him take the test and fail, but kids do not need to be embarrassed into learning and succeeding.