Settlement

That stuff on the bottom of a river or pond is called sediment. As a child I thought it was settlement. Maybe that fits better anyway. It is the stuff that is floating in a river that kind of settles to the bottom. I guess I figured if it is the stuff that settles to the bottom it is settlment. I am not really in to geology or whatever science would study such things. So to be honest I really don't know exactly what is in sediment. But it strikes me as kind of the yucky garbage stuff - to big to fly down the river and rise to top. It is that yucky stuff you step in when you wade into a pond or lake. The stuff water shoes were made to protect your feet from. The kind of stuff that settles isn't the stuff that rises to the top. The kind of people who settle aren't the kind of people who rise to the top.

I hate to settle - sometimes it happens, but I hate it. In the past few weeks I have had several conversations with my children about settling. Don't do it- is my basic message. Your to good for settling. Don't stop till you break the surface and you are at the top. Don't stop till you are the best. Good enough isn't good enough. Don't shoot for good, shoot for best and don't stop till your there. I hope they are listening, but I have my doubts. Taylor's grades prove that. Or more specifically Taylor's attitude about his grades prove that.

We had parent teacher conferences this last week. I had Taylor's report card lying on my lap as I sat in line waiting to talk to one of his teachers. The mom next to me was apparently interested in Taylor's grades because she couldnt' keep her eyes off of his report card. Wow - she finally remarked - I wish we had report cards like that. She reached out and showed me her sons report card. I didn't look to hard but I think I saw a C somewhere between all those D's and F's. Taylor got mostly A's, one A- and one B. I am not disappointed in these grades, not in the least. But what I was extremely disappointed in was Taylor's attitude and that of one of his teachers. He had several missing assignments in a couple classes. One teacher pretty much said - oh well- he got some extra credit to make up of it so he is doing fine. Extra credit is pretty easy to come by at Diamond Fork Jr High in the 7th grade. All you have to do is have your mom sign a piece of a paper once a week saying she saw your grades and you get an extra 10 points. While his report card looks great and his gpa is good, looking at a breakdown of all assignments in many of his classes was extremely disappointing. There were several 0's and as I ran my finger along the percentage row I saw lots of 50's and 60's. Which led me to institute a new rule Taylor is not to thrilled about. Anything under a 75% you retake or redo - no matter what your final grade is and no matter if you get credit for or not. Personally I think 75% is pretty lenient. But simply not doing an assignment is not acceptable in my book. And taking a test and getting a 50% on it isn't acceptable - even if all that extra credit still gives him an A. How can an A mean something if the only reason you get it is because you have a mom who reminds you to show her your grades and signs the bottom.

I think we are quickly becoming a nation of settlers - and I am not talking about he pioneers of old. It is becoming to hard to fight to be the best - so we settle for good enough. We let ourselves sink to the bottom. Problem is when we do that we are going to get walked all over - and when someone steps in us they are going to lift up their foot and grimace and then go put on some water shoes.