Sonny boy came to me this evening because he was stuck on a math problem.  He was working on the metric system.  He had a worksheet that he was working on and it was almost complete.  But, the problem was he had the correct answers but wasn't sure how he got them.  The worksheet consisted mostly of word problems and I couldn't understand how he get to the end without working through the gist of the problem. 

I asked him to grab his at home math book. (Each year I try to get a math textbook to keep at home for reference.)  He didn't know where it was, although it was on his bookshelf in his room.  Um I guess he hasn't used it in a while.  With a little guidance he located his math book and bought it down to me.  I immediately found the chapter he was working on and the reference to the website for same. 

Sonny boy wasn't interested.  He wanted to go and get his hour of tv in. So he said that he would get help from his teacher tomorrow.  My question was, "Why didn't you get help today when you didn't fully understand what you were doing?  No answer.  I of course scolded him and said that the example he is setting now is why some people get left behind.  Left behind because they don't want to go the extra mile to help themselves at the expense of video games, mind numbing television, and/or  peers.   If it isn't easy or simple, just do enough to get by. 

Wow!  That sounds like some of  the concerns our country is having now.  We are not producing a work force that are qualified, or will be qualified to compete in a global economy. And we wonder why!