This story was my favorite out of the four that we read. I think I liked it the most because I could relate more to it than the others, although I couldn't relate to it too much. I do not think that Donny's parents should have listened to the psychiatrist and hired Cal. I think that they should have at least waited a little bit longer to see if his grades continued to improve with his mother's help. It took a lot of nerve for Cal to blame it all on Donny's parents. Personally, I would have quit sending him to Cal as soon as his grades started to deteriorate. I think Donny would have been okay in school and everything if it hadn't been for Cal. I was kind of surprised to learn that Cal is professionally trained. I do not think he acts like he knows what he is doing. He seems to blame it on everyone else and just make excuses. I can not believe that a psychiatrist would recommend him. I think that Cal is probably the one who supplied Donny with the beer and cigarettes that got him expelled in the first place. His parents made the right move by cancelling Donny's tutoring and placing him in a public school. Unfortunately, they made this decision way too late. They should have done it in the beginning, before things began to escalate. I kind of expected Donny to run away because that is typically what happens in stories like this, although I wasn't sure if he would come back or not.
I thought "Teenage Wasteland" was a very good title for this story. It described exactly what Cal's home appeared to be to me. I found it interesting that Donny was listening to "Teenage Wasteland" by the Who and that Matt referred to Cal's place as a teenage wasteland without even knowing the relevance. I think it is depressing that so many teens today are living in their own "teenage wastelands." Not very many students try hard and even less are living up their full potential. There are also many "Cals" that lead them astray by blaming other people and giving them excuses. I thought this was a decent story that I could relate to well.
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4 comments:
I thought that maybe Cal was the supplyer as well. I just felt like the tutoring sessions were a bunch of kids hanging out. The author was just as vague describing the sessions as Donny was in describing them to his parents.
Reading these stories with the class we have, most of the others just can't relate. I feel like a lot of people in our class are trying to be above these characters or to just sound like they are. I think that everyone is a little Donny or Holden from catcher. It is completely ok to feel like these people, and I just think that most people in our class think they are above feeling this way.
I don't think Cal helped Donny in any way. Things were not improving when wih Cal and they continued to send him there. I agree with you about Cal. It doesn't seem like he knows what he is talking about. He seems very young and immature. It seems Cal just wants to be seen as "cool" and somewhere depressed kids can go. I was also surprised how Donny's parents treated his sister. They where always so concerned about him that they never thought about her. If they are not careful the same think is going to happen to her that did to Donny.
I also could relate to this story, but it's probably because I don't have much motivation like Donny. I think I would've sent Donny to Cal if I were his parent, though. However, like you I would have stopped as soon as things got worse or lacked improvement. If his mother would have just asked him how he felt most of this could have been avoided. His sister will probably follow in the same path because she is ignored by her mother. I do agree with Lisa also. Really, almost everyone can relate to Donny. He is just a little more extreme because he is a character in a short story, but if they step back and look they will see the similarities. I didn't like the vagueness of the sessions either, though. However, I think it was left in the air so that the reader could make their own decision on Cal.
I think that hiring Cal was one of the worst mistakes they could have made. They sould have tried to deal with their son first before letting anyone else come in and do it. Cal was trying to be more like Donny's friend than his tutor. He didn't do him any good at all. He might have been able to sympathize with him a little bit, but thats about all he could do.
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