I have a student in one of my "lower achieving" classes who is quite possibly the sharpest, most intelligent student I have. The problem is, he goes in these phases where he doesn't want to do ANYTHING, doesn't care, and is more than willing to take an F. This was the case first quarter, when his final grade was somewhere around a 40%, and he just shrugged his shoulders in response.

Somewhere along the way halfway through the second quarter, he decided to start working. He pulled his F up and finished with a C+. So far in the 3rd quarter he has--quite literally--a 100%. He has been working extremely hard, and I try to stroke his ego as much as possible, and so far it's sticking.

I recently asked him how he does in his reading and language arts classes. He said OK, that they're pretty easy. I told him I wanted to see him take college prep classes next year in high school, because he could definitely handle it and he could go to college if he wanted to.

He said, "Yeah, I've thought about college, but it's 4 years! I can't handle another 4 years in school!" He told me he wanted to go to vo-tech and work on cars. I told him he would be good at that, too.

At that moment I saw an incredible amount of maturity in him, and an incredible amount of potential in him, knowing that if he could keep his attitude in line (and stay out of trouble with the law), he really could be excellent at whatever he pursued.

A couple of days later he entered the room and he and his friend asked me if they could work on my car when they're at vo-tech. This other boy is the son of a mechanic and is constantly daydreaming of engines and horsepower and fixing up old cars. "You want to pimp my ride, huh?" "Yup," they agreed in unison.

I told them they would need a couple of years of experience before I trusted them with my car, and I asked them if they were really just out to sabotage me. They told me they wanted to fix it up; it needs some work. I agreed and asked the motorhead what he work on first. "The engine," he told me confidently. I said, "The engine's fine. It's going to run forever." "Well, the interior and exterior isn't my job. The engine's my area."

So I asked the good student what he would work on first. In a mature eloquence that left me stunned, he said, "Well, you mentioned there was some rust on the side, didn't you?" "Yes," I answered, surprised. "Well, I would take care of that first. Then maybe a paint job. Yeah, it needs a paint job."

I was impressed. He sounded like a true business man. I told the motorhead that my car does shake a little bit when I get up to 70 mph. He laughed and laughed and laughed at me, and told me he would take care of that.

I told them to get in touch with me in a couple of years, and I'd take them up on it.

And I think I really would, too.