Ryan Kelly says, "Fear alone is what drives our society," and others seem to concur, stating that fear is the primary motivator for doing well in school. Sean writes, "I believe fear does help me...because if there wasn't the concern about succeeding in life I wouldn't care about school whatsoever. It would just be stupid and unimportant."
Yet Robbie and Brianna both argue that fear leads to poor work, and Connor S. asserts that people who push themselves because they are motivated to do well do better than those motivated by fear. Caleb and James talk about the importance of interest, curiousity and passion, above and beyond the fear of an unhappy future, as motivators in school.
How would schools need to change so that more students are motivated by curiousity, interest, and passion rather than fear of failure or desire for good grades? What would make school stop seeming "stupid and unimportant" to large segments of the student body? When do people start to feel this way about school? Is it possible to change this?
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If schools made it so students were able to choose the classes that they showed interest in then they would be willing to work harder because they would be doing something that they felt that they got to choose and it wasn’t forced upon them to do. Also if students had more of a say in what they wanted to learn then they would work harder. If schools didn’t have to worry about teaching what was on the MCAS then they would be willing to let students pick topics that they wanted to study and learn about. Students don’t want to be told what they want to learn they want a choice of what they have to do. As soon as a student is forced to do something that they don’t want to do they lose all attention about the subject at hand because it just doesn’t interest them very much. Changes should be made so more students have for success rather than just coast thru life not interested in anything that they are doing. This seems to start as soon as grades become a big deal to people. Once a person gets a good or bad grade is when they decide if school is worth it or if school is just a plain waste of time and just forget about it.
-Ryan Kelley
I disagree with Ryan. Schools need to do little change to keep students motivated. Schools already offer subjects outside of math, science, history, and English. Schools offer exploratories, where students are able to socialize while participate in activities they enjoy, such as art and music. I feel that it is not the school that needs to change; it’s the student’s attitude towards their education. Everyone is capable of passing high school and everyone knows it’s important. How much more can a school system really do to keep students interested? Students need to mature, understand that school can lead to greatness, not drinking and partying with friends. Students start feeling school is unimportant when they are surrounded by other friends who don’t care. Students are influenced by fellow mates. It is up to the student to change his/her attitude towards school. A school system is meant to educate students, get them ready for the bigger better picture. School is not kinder garden class where you can play the whole day. Students need to take value of their time; they need to think for themselves. Rather than trying to get the school system to change for their benefit, they should put forth some effort so both sides can meet in the middle and make it easier on the school and the student.
I agree with both of the first comments, but I agree in Bonnie's statement more. Schools do offer a diverse allotment of classes that students can take by choice. I also agree with Bonnie's statement that the students must change their attitude of work in school. In order for them to be more compelled to do school work and have more curiosity, I believe that the students must look towards the advantages and rewards of school. They can get into a great collage, find a good job based off their grades in collage, and make tons of money. I just think that the students don't take thought in this. They see school as a miserable punishment that they shouldn't have to care about, let alone put effort into. These students should change their motivation in order to succeed in school. School could maybe change in a way so that the school rewards students for working so hard every once and a while.
I also believe that school is in fact boring however. I think that something drastic about school that should be change is the repetition of it. For me school is fine as long as we do different, more exciting things in it. I think that school should have less repetition and find some creativity during the school day, instead of going through the same thing every day. Although we do have a different alignment of classes every day for a seven day cycle, many students may still find it very boring. If school goes through a change every so often, the students may become more excited during school, and may be motivated to work more instead of being bored out of their mind and not work at all. That is how I think school could be changed and my opinions on how students should keep interest in their work.
P.S. Ryan: Spelling error on 18th line fourth word. Through* XD
It looks like there's some controversy, which is great. You're getting right to the heart of the matter; we know school can lead to material success in the present(good college, good job, plenty of money), but what would make school interesting and engaging NOW? Or is Bonnie right; is it the students who need to change?
I think there are some changes that could be made in schools so that students are more motivated by curiosity, interest, and passion. First, teachers could try to incorporate more hand on activities and more games to make learning more fun. This will allow students to interact with each other while they are learning. The will also be more attentive because they are actually doing something active instead of just having to take notes while a teacher lectures. There could also be more in class mini projects. Doing projects in class would get students more involved. Also, teachers should try not to rely so much on text books like they do in some classes. Textbooks are often very boring and they aren’t engaging at all. I think some teachers need to teach the material more in class rather than having students learn the material by doing homework out of a textbook. I think that exploratory classes are helpful in making students passionate about school. Students are able to choose their exploratory classes and they add variety to the school day. Lastly, I think school would be more interesting for students if teachers tried not to repeat themselves day to day. They should try to frequently do something different in class because this will probably make classes less boring for students.
I think stereotypically speaking, school is not fun. For many kids outside the US would do anything to have education. Sometimes we take education for granted. Even students who do well, get very stressed out and eventually they start slacking. I think teachers should teach us the information in more fun-filed ways rather than just taking notes the whole block. If school was fun, or at least the way of learning the information was fun, many of the students would comprehend the information easier, and would succeed, not by fear but because they are willing to. i believe if someone fails that is when they start thinking there is no way they will be able to pass, which causes even more stress, which causes the student to slack. Celia mentioned different techniques and group work which allows the interactions between students and socializing, so that the whole hour and seven minute block wouldn't bore the student. If schools allowed choice in what they want to become in life, it would make them more interested and willing to work rather than learn about everything. If a topic doesn't entertain the student, then all their focus and attention is gone. Students do have some part, but I believe the teachers should make the classes more interestingly exciting.
I don't think it is the schools that need to change, but a lot of the teachers need to change the way they teach. Too many teachers just give lectures the whole class and expect everyone to listen attentively the whole time and remember everything they say. When teachers give lectures, no one listens and no one remembers anything they say. I agree with Celia that teachers need to have more hands on activities during class and not just tell people to learn the material for homework. This would keep everyone attentive and people would actually have fun while they were learning. If students are told to learn the material for homework, they might not fully understand the material and they won't go for extra help because they don't care about the material.
People feel that school is "stupid and unimportant" when they are bored and they don't care about what they are learning about. If teachers made subjects fun to learn about, people would care more about what they are learning, and then school would become more important to a lot of people. If school was more important, then more people would want to get good grades.
I agree with Bonnie that school needs very little change to get students motivated. Schools offer electives so you are learning about what you are interested in. There is not much we can do to get teenagers motivated by curiosity, interest, and passion. Most students see school as a chore rather than a useful tool to use later in life. It is human nature for people to get away with doing as little work as possible. I agree with Celia that textbooks are long, boring, and hauling them around causes back pain for large segments of the student body. Students should be able to learn in class, instead of getting assigned homework out of a dull textbook. Boredom in the main reason for a student to hate school, and textbooks don't help. It is up to the teacher to make school less "stupid and unimportant" because incorporating more fun into class would help the students learn more. There are some things schools can do to brighten up the school day, but they will not happen anytime soon, especially not at Winchester High School.
-conor poleeinaydis
A school would have to change too much in order to make students enjoy school. Most students do not like their core classes which are required. If the school changes to make the students happy then they would have to remove most of the core classes or at least make them optional. If this was the case most students would not learn Math, English, History a think that it is impossible for students to think that parts of school are not stupid or a waste of time. Most people do not realize that what they are learning will help them in the future. Most students do most see the application of most of the subjects that they are learning. If they do see that reasons behind the material then for most people it is the fear of not having learned the information that drives them to do well, and grades may be a benefit. In the hypothetical school that has no fear of doing badly and not seceding in life, the student would learn large amounts of information on their topics of interest, such as cars or computers. However they would not have the knowledge to calculate a tip or write a good résumé. In addition the school would need to have a huge number of electives because they would have to have a class for every topic that a student could be interested in.
I think that the starting point for a student that is curious, interested, and passionate about learning is in the classroom. I agree with Celia about having the teachers express a wider variety of activities so that the students feel like they're having fun. Doing the same thing everything is like backtracking which gets nobody anywhere. When students are engaging with their friends, there's a stronger connection than if it was individual. This would also help because it teaches the students how to apply team work. Lectures really do not work, as Luke said, because it's boring to just be taught the info by listening so someone and that students loose their attention. Hands-on learning is a better way to go since the students experience the material personally. Homework is more of a burden on students because it takes a long time to do and even longer if the material is not understood. If the teachers were to all put their heads together, then there definitely could be more creative ways to teacher "boring" information. The way for students to feel like school is not so much a chore is to start with the classroom.
Schools would need to change immensely in many ways. They would need to make school more enjoyable and entertaining for the students so that they aren't bored to death in a pointless attempt to teach them. If courses were more enjoyable for students and even teachers then students would have more interest in taking those courses. If students were able to have fun while learning than most things were be easier to learn and understand and the stress of succeeding in life wouldn't be so harsh. If students have an interest in going to school than it wouldn't seem stupid and unimportant to them. I agree with Luke when he talks about how school isn't fun with teachers who lecture to students every class and how the students are expected to listen. Boring lectures like this just case students to become unfocused and fall asleep. School never seems fun but if you are extremely smart and don't need to try in your classes than school becomes easier to deal with because there is no pressure on you. I do not believe you can change this with any policy attempted in schools.
Both Ryan and Bonnie make very interesting points but I have to agree with Bonnie. If students chose their own classes, they might not choose the necessary subjects needed to succeed in life. For example, if someone did not choose Math and History, it would be very hard to go to college and be at the same point as the other students who studied deeply about these subjects. Also, some students do not care about school and if schools decided to let the students pick their subjects, some might not even pick any core classes. They might just pick exploratories and thus, would not succeed in life because they are not learning anything valuable. In some exploratories, you would learn a little but not as much as other students would by taking key classes such as Math, History, Science, English, etc. If our schools let us pick our subjects to learn, we will amount to nothing and be at the bottom of the world.
Therefore, our students are the ones that need to change. Sure, students get bored at times and feel like they want to leave. But, students should force themselves to learn about these subjects because they will be vital to us later in life. However, I believe that schools should make the subjects more interesting and fun, like Connor stated in his blog. If schools do this, many will not feel like they want to leave. They will be more interested and figure out that learning these subjects will help later in life. Many do not want to look like fools when they are older and if our schools let us choose our classes, we will indeed look like fools.
MARISSA RODAKIS
i agree with ryan if you could pick the subjects you were intrested in persuing and learning it would make it much easier for the students. Also it would be easier because if you really struggled with the class you wouldnt have to worry about passing it. That would make alot of the fear of not passing go away because you wont have to worry about it anymore. They shouldn't make you take a class you don't want to take that also adds stress. If student are always worring about the classes they are struggling in, their grades, and the fear of getting introuble or not succeding they will not do well, so eliminating taking the courses that are hard for them this would eliminate the fear and stress Also they should not make us take the mcas. In my opinion the mcas is not worth taking at all. It doesn't do anything and just puts more pressure on everyone.
I think if schools didn't grade report cards as A's, B's, C's, etc..a lot of stress would be taken off of many students shoulders. For example, in my sister's private school, their report cards basically had a description of her and her weaknesses rather than giving her a letter grade. Also, I agree with Ryan that if schools gave students an opportunity to choose classes that interested them, they would work harder in them also. I think if students are forced upon a class that they don't want to take, they would rarely try or give forth any effort. I disagree with Caleb's comment that if students can pick their own classes, that it's possible that they could choose one that would not help them succeed in life. Schools wouldn't even have classes if they know it has nothing to do with succeeding in real life. These two reasons could greatly take a load of stress off a student's back and help them succeed in real life.
In order for more students to be motivated by interest and curiosity in school, schools would have to change quiet a lot. I feel that one of the main things that would need to change is the way teachers spend all class lecturing us about the subject, and they expect us to stay with them and not drift off into space. I’m not saying that lectures aren’t necessary, but I feel that they should be balanced with more interactive lectures, and more hands on activities and group assignments. Often when people get to do hands on activities they gain a better understanding for the subject and they take more interest in what they are actually doing. I agree with Sean when he says that school never seems fun, and this can not change because people all have a different learning ability, so for some school is easy and not stressful because they are smart and pick up the info fast, and others take a longer time processing information. I feel as though there is no real policy that can satisfy the interest of every student, and there are always going to be people more interested then others, and then there will be the students who are truly excited to be there.
I completely agree with Ryan when he said that a way for students to be motivated other than fear is by letting us choose the courses we want to take. I know that personally I would rather be able to decide which classes I want to take. This way we can focus more on our lives later in life, such as our careers. Some people say its to early for that, but is it really? Also to make school more exciting and interesting I think we would need to do more active things, such as going on field trips to optional places. We could have the ability to decide if we want to go on these field trips or spend the day doing something interesting in one of our classes. It would depend on the class you decided to stay in that day on what you would want to do.
I think that people start to feel this way about school when summer gets closer or even just a vacation. Towards the end of the year a lot of students become bored and tired of school so they dont exactly try as hard as they normally would. This also occurs near vacation. Everyone loses so much focus whenever they are close to getting out of school which makes it hard for them to find any "fun" in school.I do not think that this could be changed, because it is just the way children react.
I think that a lot of teachers need to change rather than the students. A lot of teachers are very boring and just talk the whole class. I agree with what Luke says about how lectures are boring. No one listens to what the teacher says. They just sit there in boredom and dont learn anything. I agree with what celia says about how teachers should make the classes more fun and enjoyable. That could make students have fun and learn some thibgs at the same time. I disagree with what Ryan says about chossing what to learn. You have exploratory classes to do that. If you could choose what you wanted to learn no one would pick anything serious. They would just pick the easiest one available to them everytime. That wouldnt accomplish anything. No one would learn anything that is really important in life. I think that if the teachers changed some of their methods of teaching it would make our learning expierence much better and enjoyable.
In schools today everything is measured by tests and assessments and this is what students fear most. What could be worse then a test that you haven't learned all the material for or if you don't necessarily understand. Is that fair that your whole academic career should be compromised because of this mere blemish? There needs to be system of grading but i believe it should be primarily based on participation in class. The material would be learned but the stress levels in the school would be lowered greatly. Fear would no longer be a factor in school. Students would learn because they want to not because they have to do well on the upcoming test. If tests were virtually eliminated and the grading system was based on participation not life deciding exams fear could also be eliminated from the school system.
Connor Steckel
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