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Leonel Guardado
English 1A
April 26, 2014
CRN# 9115

High school in particular was quite different than middle school. Middle school grades
were not important in my opinion. You did not have to worry about the failures and receiving an
F or a D letter grade on your report card or progress report that sent your mom screaming at
you what is this F in English?! Not in middle school, because middle school courses were
easy, but in high school, I had this scenario happen to me every time I came home with any
grade lower than a C on my report card. In high school, you came to be a lot more responsible
with your grades if you cared about your future, which you should. Grades matter a lot more than
they normally would in middle school. You could not afford to get a D or possibly an F in
any of your courses, because this meant making up the courses in the summer. You would not
want to have your summer be replaced with school; it was bad enough to have it for like seven
months, now having it part of your summer, a time to relax and forget about school, no thanks.

During my freshmen and sophomore years, I attended Cathedral High School. It was an
all-boys high school (yeah, it kind of sucked that there were not any girls around at all) and a
private Christian high school, which meant we had to wear uniforms, and the high school was
quite religious. We had church masses occasionally on special occasions that required us, the
students, to dress up nicely. Unlike public high schools, you were entitled to pay monthly tuition
in order to attend the high school. At first, my family had to pay approximately $400 a month for
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me, but when my younger brother attended Cathedral the following year; my family had to pay
double for what they were originally paying at first when it was only me that was attending
Cathedral.

The thought of having my father work hard and pay approximately $400 for my tuition
each month, so that I can attend Cathedral was an honor and an incentive for me to challenge
myself and push myself to do well and be a hard-working student. Cathedral had a ninety-percent
graduation rate. I knew that if I worked hard, I myself could be part of the ninety-percent,
graduating, and heading off to the college of my choice. Although, at the time, I did not know
much about college, let alone know about my future after high school. With good there is bad.
There were some students whom I encountered with, that frankly, did not care about their
education that they were receiving.

How frustrating it would be to see students who have their parents dishing out hundreds
of dollars from their wallets to have their son attend Cathedral, only to get bad grades in their
classes. Seemed like a waste of money, that the parents of these students did not even seem to
notice they were flushing money down the drain right under their noses. I, unlike the type of
students mentioned above, had a different mindset about my education. I wanted to get more
bang for my buck so to speak. With my father spending $400, I wanted to make sure that
money was being put to good use.

I worked diligently throughout the semester and came out with a surprising 3.85 GPA
and the end of my freshmen year. It proved to be rewarding as I got on Honor Roll A, which was
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for students who achieved a 3.5+ GPA for each semester (Fall and Spring). It was by far the
most rewarding moment of my life besides my graduation. Even to this day, I think about how
much of a hard-working and determined student I can be if I put my mind to anything that I do.
There was this great feeling of joy, walking down the aisle through the arrangement of seats in
the center of the gym, and shaking the principals hand and receiving an honorary Honor Roll A
tie and a certificate for achieving a 3.5+ GPA for both the Fall and Spring semester. I did not
achieve the unthinkable, solely on the purpose of show. No, I pushed myself towards a growth
mindset without ever really realizing it, obviously since I did not know about fixed and growth
mindset at the time. I still continued to maintain a 3.5+ GPA onto my sophomore year at
Cathedral. With all this said, I was not letting myself get into a fixed mindset. No one told me
oh you are so smart and in turn, cause me to believe that I was smart and slack off with my
grades, thinking that I would get by putting little efforts into my work and avoiding challenging
tasks along the way. But, that would all soon change as I moved into my junior year of high
school.

After my sophomore year, I transferred to South Pasadena High School. My dad works as
a Gardener and he worked for a client who lived in the South Pasadena area. So, I was allowed to
go to South Pasadena High School on a permit. A permit was issued to students who attended the
high school, but did not live around the South Pasadena area. For those with permits, their job
was not to get a GPA under 2.5 or else! Or else what you might ask? Well, if you got under a 2.5
GPA, your permit would be revoked after 3 initial warnings to raise your grades. You would
receive a warning after each grading period if you were caught with a GPA under 2.5 for those
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on permits. If you did not have a permit and lived in the South Pasadena area, well, lucky for
you.

Unfortunately, I was one of the unlucky ones to have his permit revoked and thus, got
kicked out of South Pasadena High School. My dad no longer had to pay a monthly tuition in
order for me to attend a high school. I now attended a free public high school (with girls this
time!). Therefore, I had lost my incentive to push myself academically. I asked myself the
question, Why should I get good grades, when my dad does not even pay a single dime for me
to attend this public high school? This was not the only factor that came into play. The move
from Cathedral to South Pasadena was tough. A whole new environment, people, academics, and
atmosphere. I had so many friends back in Cathedral, which I had to leave them in search of new
friends in a school I did not feel comfortable going to. I had hoped that I would continue my
studies at Cathedral and graduate from Cathedral. I wanted to finish what I had started. For your
junior year, the school would hold a ceremony, honoring the juniors, and you would receive a
complimentary junior ring, which I wanted to receive. Although I never got to see that moment
in life happen, as I left Cathedral after the end of my sophomore year. I also became a bit lazier
with my schoolwork and started to procrastinate ever since I started to play the Xbox 360 that
my brother got back in the beginning of high school. So, with the countless hours of playing
video games, I focused more on playing video games than my academics. As a result I failed
both my Pre-Calculus and World History Honors courses during my Fall 2011 semester. This
meant that I had to make up the two classes over the summer or at another high school. When
Spring 2012 semester came around, I was switched into World History from my World History
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Honors course for having failed the honors version of the class. Unfortunately, I failed the
regular World History class as well and had my permit revoked.
After receiving my third and final warning to raise up my grades, I had met with the head
of the education staff of South Pasadena. His name was Steve. Me and my family had a chance
to talk to Steve about my current academic situation. We had asked him if there was any possible
way that I can continue my studies here at South Pasadena. He gave me chance, that if I showed
improvement in grades in the following week, he would allow me to stay. Unlike me, he was not
true to his word. I had my teachers sign and write the current grade that I had at the time for the
course, to indicate whether I had shown improvement from the previous grading period. I was
not able to stay and was forced to seek out another high school to transfer and be willing to
accept me. It would be hard seeing how the Spring 2012 semester was almost over. Due to this, I
had missed a week from school in search for another high school. The once prosperous student,
whom cared about his education and strived to do the best he can was gone.

Luckily for me, I was accepted into a charter high school: Los Angeles International
Charter High School. I had a meeting with the president and the principal of the charter high
school to discuss my acceptance into the high school. Given the good grades that I had received
during the first two years of high school, and having passed the CAHSEE, I was granted
acceptance into the LAICHS. They had told me that I was fortunate to get accepted into the
charter high school. The semester was almost over and they were not really accepting any more
students at the time, not until the start of the fall semester. Since I had failed both Pre-Calculus
and World History while I was at South Pasadena, I had to make up those classes not over the
summer, but during the semester. I didnt take Pre-Calculus until my senior year, because they
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felt it would be best for me to make it up during my senior year. As for my World History class,
I made it up during my first semester of my senior year.

The incident of having my permit revoked at South Pasadena High School and getting
kicked out of the high school to the moment of having to speak with the head of the education
board of South Pasadena High School has taught me to value the importance of education. You
do not really realize what you have until it is gone. If it was not for the determination or growth
mindset that I had in my freshmen and sophomore years of high school, I probably would not
have been accepted into the charter high school. I made a goal to never fail a course again and to
strive to be the student I was once was. The student who saw the value in education, cared about
his future, and have my intelligence recognized not by my awards, but the hard work I put into
achieving academic success.

In my Pre-Calculus class that I am currently taking, it is a great example of a fixed
mindset. Given that I have taken Pre-Calculus twice in high school and this is my third time
taking Pre-Calculus in college, I felt that I do not need to study or write down important notes as
I will breeze by the tests based on my previous knowledge of the two times I have taken Pre-
Calculus. On my first test, I got an 84% and I did not even study; I did the homework though.
The following two tests, I received a 70% and 61%, did not study, or the homework at all either,
which resulted in me getting low grades. But, I vowed to change at all that. After having my
cousins come over to my house, I had a talk with my aunt about pushing yourself and showing
what you are capable of being. Do not focus on trying to work hard to prove to others, but to
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prove to yourself what you are capable of handling. She told me as well that it fells rewarding
knowing you got good grades and worked hard to get those good grades. This got me to thinking.
I might be failing my Pre-Calculus, but I still might be able raise up my grade if I do well on the
next test. For the previous two tests, I did not do the homework and I noticed that when I did not
do the homework, I scored poorly, so decided to do the homework for Chapter 6, which was the
upcoming chapter test. I devoted my weekend to doing all the homework assignments he had
assigned. Although I did not finish all the homework assignments over the weekend, I did finish
on the days before the test. The day before the test, I studied the homework assignments I had
done to make sure that I had the material familiarized. After having taken the test, I knew that I
did well on the test and all that hard work would pay off, I know it would. After receiving my
test and as I glanced over the front cover of the test, I saw the number eighty-seven circled in red
ink and I silently made a fist pump to myself and smiled. I had received a B+ on my Chapter 6
test! I had achieved the growth mindset once again and man, did it feel good. I was proud of
myself through all the work I put myself in, but it the end it was worth it, I received a B+ on the
test. I made a few stupid, simple mistakes that cost me points being deducted from my grade. I
could have gotten an A-, but because of the silly mistakes, I got a B+, but I am still proud of the
grade that I got.

In Carol Dwecks article The Perils and Promises of Praise, Carol states that students
with growth-mindsets care about learning and they learn from their failures. She goes on to
mention that effort ignites their intelligence and in result, causes our brains to grow. And
that in the moment of failures, students with grow-mindsets, escalates their efforts and look for
new learning strategies. This was present with my Pre-Calculus class in preparation for the
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Chapter 6 test. I felt that I was endanger of failing the course, so I focused on getting a good
grade on the chapter test. It reminds me the example Carol recounts of one boy who thought he
was dumb. Before the experiment, the boy had put no effort whatsoever and rarely turned in his
homework assignments on time. As a result of the training, he worked for hours one evening to
finish an assignment early so that his teacher could review it and give him a chance to revise the
assignment. He ended up receiving a B+ on the assignment; he had been getting Cs and lower
previously. But we should not feel like we are the victims through the choices that we make.

If we act as victims, we are preventing ourselves from becoming the potential students
we ought to be. Do not complain, blame, or even make excuses to justify your failure, when the
failure is purely our fault. Excuses only sound good to those giving excuses. Instead try seeing
everything that you did in your past from a creators point of view. In The Language of
Responsibility, taken from the book On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and
in Life by Skip Downing, we should be creators and not victims. According to Skip, creators
use their words and thoughts to improve situations by accepting responsibility for creating
their present outcomes and experiences. With this said, creators plan and take positive actions
to help improve their lives. You see, if we act like creators and not victims, we can close the gap
between us and our success in life. Victims continue to do things knowing it doesnt work, while
creators seek out to improve themselves and solve the problem as to why they are succeeding.
While at South Pasadena High School, I acted as a victim without ever realizing it. Failing my
U.S History Honors and Pre-Calculus courses and having failing them again in the semester that
followed during my stay at South Pasadena, I knew that the path that I was walking was not
getting me anywhere. Though, when I made the transition from South Pasadena to LAICHS, I
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came to realize that my grades were important if I wanted to get into a good university. I made
sure that I picked up the slack and focused on my grades and at the end of senior year, I was glad
to hear that I was granted admission from CSU Los Angeles, CSU Northridge and UC Merced.

Prove to yourself that you are capably of possessing the ability and skill by displaying it
to yourself and then you will believe yourself that you have the ability to overcome challenges.
According to the article The Habits of Successful People: They Have a Growth Mindset by
James Clear, Dwecks studies show that success hinges on whether you believe that your
abilities can develop versus them being fixed. For my freshmen year, I did not believe for one
second that abilities were fixed. I develop my abilities as a student and worked hard to increase
my love for learning and education. Through all the homework assignments and test, getting
good grades and showing myself what the mind is capable of learning was remarkable.





















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Works Cited

Downing, Skip. On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life. 6th ed.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2011. Print.

Dweck, Carol S. "The Perils and Promises of Praise." Educational Leadership. ASCD, Oct. 2007.
Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

Clear, James. "The Habits of Successful People: They Have a Growth Mindset - - The Buffer
Blog." Buffer Blog. Buffer, 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.