Quote: "School Reform's Meager Results"

"The larger cause of failure is almost unmentionable: shrunken student motivation. Students, after all, have to do the work. If they aren't motivated, even capable teachers may fail." - Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson

Comments

[chris]

The Onion already made this point: http://www.theonion.com/video/in-the-know-are-tests-biased-against-students-who,17966/

[Pam]

Too many students are attending school out of necessity. The students aren't motivated to learn because the teachers aren't motivated to teach. Many have lost their enthusiasm for teaching because of budget cuts, reduced supplies, leadership failure, and red tape within the districts. In many cases, the teacher's hands are tied. What they can and can't do to motivate students is so heavily monitored that creativity is stifled. No wonder students "don't care"...they are walking into a classroom lacking the excitement and wonder of learning.

[Cindy]

Eductaion is a tripod: students need motivation, teachers need motivation, and parents or other family need to support the student and teacher. Even highly motivated teachers have limited time to engage a student. Students have to see the reason for education, and that really isn't the schools' job. Parents need to be involved also. It is entirely disheartening as a teacher to see parents who cannot bother to be involved in their children's education. Parents are the students primary educator!

[Leah]

students are just lazy these days. they're unmotivated because we offer them easier ways to do things so they don't try. i think the students need to try more and stop blaming the teachers for their failure.

[Josephine]

Education is detrimental to all students. First-generation students need to be motivated to learn given their background and accessibility to resources. Many teachers do not feel the need to teach to this culture of students because often say that "students should come to college prepared from high school". But as we all know this is not the case. First generation college students have lower academic aspirations than their non-first-generation peers as early as the eight grade. They are half as likely to aspire to go to college and earn a bachelors degree. They lack academic preparedness and therefore are affected by out of class experiences. According to research, first-generation students have been shown to have a less positive view of the environment on college campuses than other students and demonstrate less social engagement on these campuses (Pike & Kuh, 2005). Students often have difficulty in selecting a college due to these social issues. First generation student are less likely to have an idea of the actual cost of attending college and their parents have even a lesser idea which makes them vulnerable to underachievement. What are everyone else thoughts?