In light of Todd's previous good work in this school, his current grades suggest a specific problem which may be affecting his academic performance in a deleterious way.
King, Stephen
Apt Pupil
And, moreover, Madame Lefrançois, one must know botany, be able to distinguish between plants, you understand, which are the wholesome and those that are deleterious, which are unproductive and which nutritive, if it is well to pull them up here and re-sow them there, to propagate some, destroy others; in brief, one must keep pace with science by means of pamphlets and public papers, be always on the alert to find out improvements.” The landlady never took her eyes off the Café Français and the chemist went on— “Would to God our agriculturists were chemists, or that at least they would pay more attention to the counsels of science.
Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary