Tips #23

A few weeks ago, my wife and I traveled westward, on a journey to that exotic and distant place known as Mattoon. I pulled into the Staples parking lot, parking the Honda up close, right in front of the building. I planned on making some purchases and getting several hundred photocopies of a flyer. My wife decided that the excitement of visiting Staples would be too much for her, so she decided to wait for me in the car. As I closed the car door, I locked it. Who knows what could happen in a big city like Mattoon. Upon entering the store, I saw the price list suspended over the copy center. Whoa! I realized that I did not want to pay that much money. So, I walked back out to the car to drop off the flyer.

My wife saw me coming, so she unlocked the door. This simple act upset the Honda. The horn began honking every two seconds, alternating with the flashing of the headlights. My wife opened my door, and I jumped in the car. I put the keys in the ignition, but the horn continued to blare. I felt like a car thief.

My wife usually drives this car. On her key ring is a remote control device, which she has used to turn off the alarm when she has accidentally hit the panic button. Today, however, since I was driving, she left her keys at home. Unfortunately, her car keys weren't too far away from my remote control device, which was also at home. Honk, honk, honk. A minute passed. People were pulling into the lot staring at us. Another minute went by. Our ears were beginning to hurt. I started the car and moved it to the end of the lot where the horn wouldn't bother people in the building quite so much.

I asked my wife to extract the owner's manual from the glove box; I didn't want to drive home with the horn sounding and the lights flashing. It was dusk and such a trip would not only be embarrassing but could be dangerous. As my wife was thumbing through the pages, scanning one section after another, the alarm stopped. What a relief. I figured that the system had reset itself. So, I drove the car back to the front of the building, planning on slinking back into the store and pretending that I had nothing to do with the alarm that had been sounding for the past five minutes. I opened the car door. Honk, honk, honk. The alarm went off again. Now, this really wasn't funny, but my wife began laughing. What else could one do? I drove back to our spot in the parking lot with the horn sounding and lights flashing.

We started examining the owner's manual more deliberately. We finally found the section that described the alarm system. Once the doors are locked, the alarm will sound, we learned, if the doors are opened from the inside. That made sense because a thief would try to unlock or open the door without using a key. We continued to read. The alarm stopped before we figured out how to make it stop. But, we did find the relevant section. Our car salesman had highlighted the section in the owner's manual. We were apparently not the only ones who had trouble with the alarm. To stop the alarm, we learned, one has to use the remote or open the car door with the key. Simple--as long as you know how.

By this time, I was too embarrassed to go back into Staples, so we decided to go to Wall Mart to look for my supplies. I pulled into the Charleston Wall Mart, parked the car, opened the door, and (you guessed it), the alarm sounded again. This time, I knew what to do. I put the key in the door, and the alarm stopped. After that experience, I'll never forget what to do if I accidentally set off the alarm again.

The D/F list is a lot like the warning alarm on my wife's Honda. Professors who teach 1000 or 2000 level courses are asked to report any student who is earning a grade of a D or an F in their classes at the mid-point of the semester. Letters will be sent out this week in October to thousands of Eastern students who are currently earning at least one D or F. Those students who ignore the warning are likely to become one of the approximately 20% of the students whose poor grades stay the same or get worse when the final grade is issued. A large percentage of students, after consulting with their professors and advisors, decide that they need to drop a class. That is costly in terms of time and money, and dropping classes can affect things like financial aid, scholarships, and insurance. So, before dropping, students need to contact their advisor and professor. However, other students take the warning seriously and still are able to raise their poor grades. They examine what they have been doing in their classes, and they make changes in how they study, how they prepare for tests, how they manage their time, etc.

Students who aren't sure why they are having problems or can't come up with a good plan should talk to their professors and/or get help from academic and student support service providers. If I did not go back to the owner's manual and try to figure out how to solve my problem with the car alarm, I'd probably still be sitting in the Staple's parking lot with a dead battery.

If you receive a D/F letter, don't let your academic battery run down. Evaluate where you stand in the course, figure out what you need to change, and get recharged. If you need a jump start, contact me or another academic and student support services provider.

The D/F letter is your alarm. Don't be embarrassed about getting a poor grade at mid-term. It doesn't count, and frankly, we've all gotten poor grades. But do try something different. Do not make excuses. Take the warning seriously; it is for your benefit. If you don't, you be just like the Honda and I, getting warning after warning. Do not assume that the problem will go away on its own.

If you do not receive a D/F letter, the midterm is still a good time to reevaluate your progress and reconsider how you are approach your academic work. You may not be getting a D or an F at this point, but you may be capable of getting better grades than what you are currently earning. Sit down with your syllabi and take some time to plan how you are going to write the remaining papers, to give outstanding speeches, to work with others on your group presentations, to complete the labs, and to study for the upcoming final exams. The last half of the semester will involve more work than did the first half, so try not let things slide. You may not realize it, but you have already accomplished a great deal and your learning skills have probably improved. There will be more work and more difficult work as you progress through your academic career, but you will become more efficient at doing the work as long as you are self-reflective and willing to change when things are not satisfactory. Strive to be your best!