my trial

The question I'm wrestling with today is how to teach a student not willing to learn. It seems like there is very little to do in response to just plain willful ignorance. Perhaps I simply don't know what to do. Case in point: If Rachel doesn't stick with the program, she will not graduate this spring. It's that simple. When I tell her this needs to be done so that we don't fall behind, make sure it's done tomorrow, she says OK, and when I come back in 2 days, it's maybe half done. It's not good enough.

The worst example was on Monday. I helped her in the morning, when I left, she had 6 questions left on the test. I told her "I'll stop by in 5 hours, these need to be done when I get here." She said that it would be done. As I was getting off the freeway on my way home, I called. "Rachel, is you're test done? I'm going to be there in 20 minutes." She said she had 2 questions left, and they'd be done when I got there. I walk in the door 19 minutes later. The test is sitting on the table, 2 questions weren't corrected after I marked them wrong, and 2 were still not done. Mind you, this test was supposed to be mailed in Friday.

So what can I do? I have my own studies, I can't sit next to her every minute of every day, but if I don't, she never takes initiative. I've got a sneaking suspicion that it would be better for her not to graduate, and deal with those consequences. However, that does not seem to be an acceptable goal for either of us.