This story really made me upset. It was probably my favorite of the four stories. The Donny was just weird. It was so annoying that he wasn't trying at all in school. I could relate to him somewhat. I understand that sometimes you just get burnt out, but I don't think that this is what happened to him. He just plain out didn't care. I thought that he needed to work harder. I suppose my opinion may be biased as I tend to try to follow through and do well at whatever I choose to do, but Donny just seemed lazy to me. I can understand why his mother sent him to therapy with Cal, he really needed help.
I thought Cal seemed shady from the very beginning of the story. Maybe i'm just crazy, but I don't think that I would send my son to see him after the first few sessions. I do think that Donny had some issues and needed help. Cal took it to the extreme though. It got to a point where he did not allow Donny's mother to say or know anything about his school life. Cal was sheltering Donny, giving him whatever he wanted. It was ruining his life. Obviously if Donny's grades are dropping, it isn't helping. Donny was definitely responsible for the beer found in his locker. I think that this is the first time that Donny's mom finally decided to question Cal.
It is really sad that Donny's sister gets ignored. She was mentioned very few times, but when she was mentioned it was because she was being ignored. Donny's mother spends so much time contemplating about what she did wrong with him, what she would have done differently. The thing is, she can't do anything differently. The past is the past. She needs to wake up and realize that she still has another child that she is responsible for. She may not have another chance to raise Donny, but she does have a chance to give her daughter whatever she feels was missing from Donny's life.
I don't understand why Donny ran away. He had a great life. He had so much before he started seeing Cal. After he started sessions with Cal, he had everything he could possibly want. His parents basically stayed out of his life, he really liked going to Cal's, he had friends, a girlfriend, etc. I think that Donny always took things to the extreme. As for whether or not Donny would have left if he hadn't gone to Cal's, I do not know. I think that Cal and his other students had a very bad influence on Donny. However, Donny was very independent. Cal seemed to help him enjoy life a bit more. I think he would have left eventually, but not necessarily at the same point in time. I don't think he would have been expelled if he didn't go to Cal's. If he hadn't been expelled, he probably wouldn't have run away when he did.
Comments were made to Lisa (http://lisaworldcultures.blogspot.com/) and Sam (http://samworldhistory.blogspot.com/).
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I disagree. I think Donny did care and he was just depressed. I think Donny was trying, he just wasn't understanding. I think that his grades weren't the problem. I mean obviously to students in an Honors English class, its normal to want to have good grades in school but for other people "just getting by" is good enough. Life isn't all about how well you do in school or how smart you are. I don't think Donny's parents understood him and that they didn't try hard enough to help him. I didn't like Cal at all, I agree he was kind of shielding him from everything. If Cal was a real therapist he would have talked to Donny about what was really going on in his life. I think that Donny just needed a little push and someone to talk to.
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