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Education Motivation

If you haven't heard, the US isn't the best country when it comes to education. In fact, of the major industrialized nations, it isn't even in the top 10. It ranks 18th of 36. 18th. For a country that is the 'envy' of other nations and the embodies the ideals of the modern world, this is a sad, sad fact. This fact is not overlooked by the people and their government. Every administration has had policies to try to ameliorate the education situation in America. Initiatives have been created, regulations worked and re-worked and even some out-of-the-box thinking has been tried. Yet, we continue to see a less than adequate result. So what is the real problem?

To start, I would like to point out that such ideas as smaller classrooms, benchmark testing, test-based school rewards, socio-economic integration and even healthier lunches are all great ideas that could benefit the student, but have each yet to show any real significance in beneficial change. What each of these ideas do is attempt to attack the problem of education from the outside in. They adjust factors of the environment of the student instead of addressing the students themselves. What I mean by this is that the real issue with the education of our students today is the motivation for those to students to educate themselves.

This idea was written about by Robert J. Samuelson in a recent issue of Newsweek and I could not agree more. I feel like the fundamental problem with the education in our country lies purely on the students' shoulders. If necessary, you can also transfer blame from the student to the parents, as it is really the parents' job to instill the value of education to their children. If not for parents, then whoever can be considered a peer or mentor or guardian of said student holds the responsibility. The teachers themselves can share some of this burden, but as they are often just another adult to the kids, the real motivation for motivation will come from the family. The student needs to understand (and the earlier the better) that education is an invaluable element in the sum of their success as an adult.

It is easy to understand how critical motivation can be to a high school student, but you may ask, how can the motivation of a 6 year old toward education be taken as a serious issue? In this case, look at it more as an issue of respect and obedience. At this young age, it can be impressed upon the student that what they are doing is a very important thing and that the more time they spend learning and listening, the more likely they will be happier and successful in the future. Yes, this sounds very idealistic, but it is the kind of values that need to be imprinted on a child's mind to keep that motivation going.

What is troubling is the proliferation of distractions from this truth. Sure, there are the obvious examples of rock stars, reality-tv 'stars' (Teen Mom?) and plenty of stories of rags-to-riches that can catch the eye of the naive student offering diversions from the path of education. However, the bigger difficulty is convincing these students that this education that is so necessary is something that will have to be worked for and will not come easy. In the era of microsecond internet searches, immediate response and instant gratification, it is becoming more and more challenging to instill the value of years and years of the educational process. To me, this is the largest obstacle to overcome that hinders the students' motivation. Why work hard at something for the future when you can be satisfied now? Why keep doing that homework when you have 'much better' things you could be doing?

I could easily go into depth about all the different factors that can deter a student from wanting to continue, but the important thing to recognize is that the solution lies more in addressing these aspects than with the teachers. Yes, every school needs better quality teachers. Yes, they need more resources and funding and more attention to special individual needs. But what every student needs is the reassurance that all this hard work is going to pay off in the end. They need to be encouraged when they get frustrated or hit a bump in the road. They need to be shown that there is no easy way out, that there is a larger picture to be aware of. Granted, this is not an easy task. Parents and teachers must work together while students also have to realize what is at stake. Keep finding the external education solutions as well, but keep in mind the most important factor: the students themselves.