ABSTRACT
INQUIRING MINDS: INCREASING STUDENT MOTIVATION
FOR SUCCESS
By
Stephany
York
Student apathy is at an all-time high
while motivation is at an all-time low. This
generation of students is the first generation to grow up completely with
technology at the tip of their fingers. Even those among the poorest have
access to it. Today’s students are more
knowledgeable, and more easily bored, and more apathetic than the generations
that came before them. Whether the cause is parenting, poverty, technology, or
language barriers, it is imperative that educators find a motivating factor to
ensure success for public education. Student
apathy has increased in public schools over the past five to ten years showing
a decline in student participation and state mandated test scores. Several
projects were implemented in an effort to increase student motivation at
Dimmitt High School in Dimmit, Texas. A study by Próspero et al. (2012) proved that
short-term rewards will yield short-term effects, and this appears to be the
case with this study. However, there were successes with the overall population
of students just not with the failing quarter of English I EOC Reading and Writing
students retesting. Some students
are showing an increase in performance due to implementation of student
activities and rewards, but the numbers are not large enough to be considered a
success in alleviating apathy and increasing motivation. The desire to get out
of EOC accelerated learning classes to regain electives is present with a small
population of students, but overall, this does not show a large enough increase
in passing rates to suggest it could be a motivating factor. Nevertheless, with
that said, two factors has shown success: student voice and caring teachers.Concluding Remarks
If school stakeholders want to eradicate
student apathy, it begins with good instructional leadership on the part of the
principal and assistant principal, good teachers who are highly qualified and
care about the individual student as well as his/her education, and parents who
are willing to invest in their child’s future. The last part, the parent, is the
one aspect that, as educators, is beyond our control, so we must do what is
necessary to get our students to buy in to their own education and know they
have a future beyond those of a school building. Goldberg et al. (2001) defines motivation as
“provide[ing] someone with an incentive to so [sic] something. . . . Personal
goals determine why people do what they do, and the content of these goals
direct them. Unfortunately, far too many
students are refusing to work for goals that have a far too distant payoff
(Glasser, 1998) or incentive.
Ultimately, if we can learn to help students self-motivate and find the
desire to succeed within; these students show much higher rates in
success. Próspero et al. (2012) states,
“an individual’s
attempt to find challenges that are suited to his or her competencies and are
carried out for the pleasure of the activity itself, absent of external
rewards.”
For a copy of the complete study, you may contact me by email.
Stephany York