Lack of initiative

[Eilan]

I think that the views here offer a nice range of thought and that is what I am looking for. Really, this topic is no different than any other. Some blame family, some blame the education system, etc. I don't think there is any one single answer but I do have my own theories as well.

I don't think there's any one right answer.

 

[pleasteasme]

I don't think there's any one right answer.

I whole-heartedly agree!

It is a conglomerate of so many variables. *IMO*

 

[silverwhisper]

pleasteasme: see, i know that the part of me that my teachers saw in public school was exactly like what you described: uninterested and unmotivated. now, my teachers usually were frustrated by me b/c they felt i was pretty bright, but they couldn't really get me engaged in coursework.

my sister's a prof at a college in upstate NY. she periodically rants about her students, often commenting that one or two of the kids remind her of me at that age.

:>

ed

 

[pleasteasme]

pleasteasme: see, i know that the part of me that my teachers saw in public school was exactly like what you described: uninterested and unmotivated. now, my teachers usually were frustrated by me b/c they felt i was pretty bright, but they couldn't really get me engaged in coursework.

my sister's a prof at a college in upstate NY. she periodically rants about her students, often commenting that one or two of the kids remind her of me at that age.

:>

ed

Ed ~ I can easily identify those students in my classes. I usually make them my "projects" and my goal is to work on them and try to see if I can motivate them. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't.

I like the challenge.

 

[silverwhisper]

if they're anything like i was, i'm fair certain that the ones w/ whom you have success will never forget you.

btw: thanks for being a teacher. it's a shame that such an important job doesn't often receive the status it deserves.

ed

 

[pleasteasme]

if they're anything like i was, i'm fair certain that the ones w/ whom you have success will never forget you.

btw: thanks for being a teacher. it's a shame that such an important job doesn't often receive the status it deserves.

ed

I chose to do this because without the support, guidance, and genuine interest of my teachers...I'm afraid to think of where I would be today. I honestly want to be able to help people. This is a small way I can attempt to accomplish that task.

Thank you for your kind words Ed.

 

[jerseyman1963]

Really analyzing myself in high school, I didn't have much initiative and a lot of that came from a general disregard of me from my parents... With that said, growing up on a farm and having animals that I was in charge of, I had to take initiative. Of course, we are talking about something I WANTED to do... Really, this topic is no different than any other. Some blame family, some blame the education system, etc.

Bingo. This is a REALLY complicated subject. As Kahuna pointed out, my last post contradicts itself, but at the end of the day, I think this: If everybody were Einstein, then Einstein wouldn't have been special. Interestingly enough, there is some statistic that I can't remember exactly, but some very large percentage of the 100 weathiest Americans only finished high school and were self-made. So success, at least as measured financially, does not necessarily have to do with educational attainment, but rather drive and initiative. Now, I work in the nonprofit sector, as does Kahuna I seem to remember, so you couldn't measure my success financially, but why don't we all have that drive? Again, if everyone were Einsten, or Beethoven, or Eudora Welty... actually, I just worked her in because I like saying Eudora Welty out loud. I had the same parental experience, but somewhere along the line I was lucky enough to find something that inspired me, and that, plus a willingness to work 24/7, often to my personal detriment, just to prove everyone wrong and attain their admiration and/or approval and/or be able to rub their noses in it eventually, finally got me going and kept me going. I feel blessed that I found it, because if I hadn't, things could have turned out veeery differently, but not everyone is lucky enough to find the thing that turns them on, and not everyone has the personal fortitude to keep looking against increasingly long odds these days. If everyone were Eudora Welty...

 

[Ezzy]

I've often wondered why in hell we make athletes get good grades in school. That's nice, if it's what they want, but wouldn't it also be nice to allow people to focus on what they want, whether it is mechanical, social, sports or otherwise, rather than ram information they don't find valuable down their throat and judge them on their absorption of it?

Because athletes even at the highest levels will be done with an athletic career by their late 30's and early 40's, (not counting the senior tour circuit), and it is more fun to have them still contribute to society as a whole, than not be able to do anything else, just because we let them slide through an education.

 

[Guest]

 

[pleasteasme]

As I think back, I realize I really didn't take advantage of the opportunities in high school. I'm not sure if I even brought a book home during that time. I probably did, but I don't remember it.

Seems, I whipped out homework during study hall, bs'd my way though a few tests, and really didn't put in much effort. No wonder I struggled so much the first time I went to college.

You sound like me in high school! I rarely took work home with me. I worked on it during break, lunch, study hall, other classes...lol!

I was lucky though...when I went to college, I had the most awesome instructors and subject material that I loved! I did great in college! It was a good time in my life.

 

[only_more_so]

"Youth today love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, no respect for older people, and talk nonsense when they should work. Young people do not stand up any longer when adults enter the room. They contradict their parents, talk too much in company, guzzle their food, lay their legs on the table and tyrannize their elders"

Socrates, 500 B.C.

Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.

Ovid (43 BC - 18 AD)

Actually, that isn't exactly true for me, but I figure a good quote deserves a good quote.

I find that it is very sad how easy life is, and realize how much more fun a challenge is. I'm an engineer, and computers have made the job so much easier that people are losing the basic fundamental knowledge. It used to mean something to be a rocket scientist, now not so much at least from the inside prospective.

Part of it is the motivation aspect that started this thread. The knowledge of the fundamentals is available to be learned, but newer quicker ways are easier to digest and generally get the job done anyway. There are still those who learn the harder and better way, but they are the exception and not the rule.

But really, looking at all of history, I don't think students today are any less motivated than students ten, twenty or a hundred years ago. They just have more ways to display their lack of motivation, and are often given more leeway to do so. Also the reprecussions of a lack of motivation are less than they have been for a long time.

Basically, I guess what I am saying, is that people have always (in general) been as lazy as they can be given their situation.

pleasteasme, I admire that you work with high school students. That you care is evident, and being cared for is always a motivator.

 

[Guest]

 

[pleasteasme]

I kind of brought the same habits I had in high school to college. I struggled for a while til I learned that college wasn't just one big party (I had a great time in college) then settled down a bit.

The second time I went to college I was also working full time and appreciated it more and put way more effort into it.

I didn't get to have much of a good time in college. I was always working and competing on teams that traveled throughout the nation. There was about a two week period that I tried to be a wild college party girl...it just wasn't me!

 

[EJFan]

i read in the paper this morning that the chelsea school district in MA is going to pay students for perfect attendance. they'll get $25 for each quarter of perfect attendance and an additional $25 if they make it thruogh the whole year.

what a crock. there's no initiative because there's no overt reward attached... people have gotten too used to incentives that are beyond the ordinary.