Poor grades? Read this before hiring a private tutor

Many parents are panicking over their teenagers’ academic performance. Many high school students (both day and boarding) experience declining grades in the first two or three years after starting high school.

Consider the case of Larry (not his real name), the eldest of three children, who attended a private primary school in Nairobi. He was one of the top students in his class and scored 421 marks in his KCPE.

After the celebrations, Larry joined Form 1 and appeared to settle in well at a national school in Nairobi. By the end of the first term, he scored a B- B-grade. His parents were slightly surprised by the drop, but thought that the new boarding school environment might have affected his performance. However, his grades continued to decline, and by the end of Form 1's third term, Larry was receiving a C grade. In the second term of Form 3, Larry dropped to a D, causing his parents even more concern as he had just one year before his KCSE.

Teenagers often find the transition to high school destabilising. Remember, your child may have been a star student in primary school, receiving lots of attention from teachers and fellow students – then suddenly, they are in a school with top students from all over the country. The teenager may feel overwhelmed by the unfamiliar environment, new subjects taught by different teachers, having to manage their personal belongings, and planning their own time.

Reality hits that many peers are as capable or even more capable than they are. During Grade 6, or the final year of primary school, there is little new content taught, as the focus is mainly on revision and exam preparation. If the child were in a private school with classes of fewer than 30 students, they might feel lost when placed in large classes of 60 or more students.

Wait, did you teach your child in boarding school how to do their laundry, including washing their sheets? Is your teen accustomed to taking cold showers (I am aware that teen boys, if not monitored, may sometimes shower just once a week!)? How about the change in diet and the quality and quantity of food on your teen’s plate? Have they adjusted to sleeping in dormitories with hundreds of other students?

 How adequately did you prepare your child for life in boarding school before you dropped them off? If they were unprepared, high stress levels and depression eventually set in. This will trickle down to performance in class.

The digital age has led to Apps that parents simply log into and check their children’s online report cards. When the grades are low, parents are at a loss as to why their children’s performance has plummeted. When asked, the teens have no clue why, and insist that they are trying their best. Some parents may not be aware of the effort their teenagers are putting into their classwork. When is the last time you had a look at your child’s marked examination scripts? Do the marks posted online tally with those in the child’s exam papers? Teenagers convince their parents that their marked papers are never returned, and many parents fall for this lie. When is the last time you checked your teen’s exercise books to confirm if their notes are up to date?

In some schools, students barely get enough sleep. Are school administration staff aware that some students sleep as late as 11.00 p.m. and then wake up at 3.00 a.m.? How is a teenager with a growing and developing brain expected to grow and thrive with as little as four hours of sleep a night? It is no surprise that many teen students struggle with burnout or depression.

If your teenager’s grades are dropping, before you focus on hiring private tutors, try and understand what your child could be going through both physically and psychologically.

Ms Musandu is a consultant at Parenting Teenagers Hub, Kenya