My mother recalls that, when yet another teacher reported to her that "your child is not working up to her potential", I responded "if I never work up to my potential, what makes you think I have any? Maybe this is as good as I get."
I had just turned eight.
(And as I recall, I got in trouble for being fresh-- though I wasn't trying to be, I really was curious.)
Now that sounds like something I would say ...err...would have said!
I've always wondered how they know how much potential you might have!
Would you call that "constantly on the verge of being a little disrespectful?"
My own report cards also have a few comments about not completing assignments and not turning in homework. I can see now that my mother was probably more prepared for the grade slump that I suffered in high school than I imagined her to be -- I remember hiding my report card for as long as possible back then.
