A boy attended a gifted program, but didn’t try. Now a father, his son fights to succeed where dear old dad didn’t. Chris Hunt marvels at his son’s tenacity
Riley Hunt completes his homework at his family home in Aylmer. This fall, he’s excited to begin Grade 9. His favourite subject is history. Photo Credit Angela Jacques
I failed math in high school in spectacular fashion.
To make it clear, I didn’t fail because the material was too difficult. I grasped it easily for the most part, however my school had this petty rule that if you missed an exam, a bunch of tests and around a third of the classes in the last term, they fail you.
I went to what we called a “gifty” school, essentially a school with higher scholastic expectations than your average school.
The courses were more advanced and the teachers had high standards. They expected you to put in the time to not only keep up with the class work, but also to get ahead of the curriculum.
If I wasn’t a week ahead of where they were in class, I felt I was behind. I was told it was a privilege to go to this school, but if I wasn’t willing to put in the work, I didn’t deserve to be there.
Thing was, I didn’t want to be there. It was one of two high schools in my boundary, and I wanted to go to the other one. The other school was known for being quite rough. I didn’t care. School was more social than scholastic for me and my closest friends were going to that school. My teachers spoke to my mother and convinced her to send me to the gifty school.
You see, I possessed a minor character flaw that my wife believes persists to this day. I hated being told what to do.
So I went, but I was defiant. I skipped classes, purposefully didn’t finish tests and skipped the final exam completely. I mastered the art of quiet quitting before it was cool.
Fortunately, my life largely worked out despite my best efforts.
Fast-forward many years and my son Riley always struggled with math but usually managed to squeeze out a pass. Until this year. His grades were low from the outset and only got worse, despite him putting in effort.
He went for help at lunch. Grades plunged. His mother studied with him. Grades plunged.
He has accommodations for a learning disability but never used them because he didn’t want special treatment.
During a very difficult test, he asked to utilize his accommodation of extra time. Due to a clerical error, his accommodations were not properly recorded in his profile, so the teacher had no choice but to refuse.
Whereas I had pushed my teachers away, my son was begging for help and not receiving it.
He ended up failing math and summer school was recommended. He was dejected, but a chance encounter changed everything.
We were having dinner out when we saw a neighbour we hadn’t seen in years. This neighbour was a retired math teacher and when we described Riley’s struggles he said, “If a student really wants to learn, they can be taught.” And with that, he offered to tutor my son.
For weeks, Riley attended summer school and then went straight to his tutor’s home for additional study.
Even with all the study and tutoring he entered his final exam unsure if he would pass, let alone do well.
He scored an 84 percent.
The occasion doesn’t make a person, but it shows them for what they are and my son was shown to be nothing like his old man, which I am very proud of.
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