I have tutored many students over the years, and they all needed tutoring because their grades were the worst they could be. During the first couple of sessions, I always had to make time to not only assess where their difficulties were but also to deconstruct this idea they had of themselves that they were either "too stupid" or "would never achieve a better grade." And this idea was usually built on the myth that this one particular subject would forever be their weakness. Without exception, they all had stories of being ridiculed, humiliated, and belittled by their teacher of said subject. Some stories were truly horrifying to hear. Their self-esteem was so broken, and their relation to the subject was negative in every way. I heard "I just hate English" so many times... Some even had physical symptoms, like headaches or stomach issues, before class or our tutoring session. It is sad that many teachers don't work with a more resource-oriented perspective rather than always highlighting deficits. I found a good strategy is not to use their regular class materials for the first couple of sessions and instead to work on their interests and how to include the subject in their lives. For example, if a student loves sports, we talk about that in English, focus on having an enjoyable tutoring session, and then later work on grammar, tenses, etc. In general, I believe that saying "the student is lazy/stupid" is an easy way out instead of doing the investigative work of "where your student is" and how you can "meet them there" (figuratively speaking). Also, many neuroscience studies prove that the brain cannot learn under stress, so yelling at them will never yield long-lasting, positive results.

Unfortunately, it also happens quite often to see students who are unmotivated and have a very low view of themselves and their potential. School dropuot is correlated with negative, disabling, and stressful experiences. However to say that it is the traumatic experiences I would have a can attention, as trauma by definition is linked with death or risk to the health and integrity of the person. It has to be the very unfavorable and even enduring corcircumstances, in order to come to a finding that the spieaceful experience at school was a trauma to the person (most often the student, but also of the teachers). In this case of a real trauma in the school setting I think the treatment is like for trauma experienced in other settings.

Kudos to sensitive teachers and tutors who can help rebuild the student's low self-image.