DS doesn't understand that he would receive a lot of credit just for his command of language. So we are going to teach him how to answer a question without actually saying anything. I graduated with honors in English using just this method...but I was more savvy than DS. Of course, that is true of [insert any inanimate object here]. So DS' curriculum will be "learn to play the game." Now he knows there *is* a game, so that is learning, too. Right?
Ugh. The old "playing the game" approach is unfortunately so necessarily in academia. I'm teaching DS14 (not 2e) this strategy, as his first year of high school is quite demanding. Get inside the teacher's heads, learn what they want to hear, and then give it to them. So many really smart kids underperform because they either have trouble figuring out what to study or how to present their answers.
But my 2e DS12 does what he wants and is not ready for the game. Ironically, he's probably learning more effectively this way.
