Bad grades? - A motivation problem.
That “school is not always fun” is not an uncommon motivation problem. It appears when the learning process stays constantly same and there is simply no educational improvement. According to this matter, how can a student find the joy in studying again?
One of the main point is that every student wants to do well in school and - of course - no one wants to bring bad marks back home. It is every student's desire to achieve good goals in school but some of them have difficulty in emerging them.
Parents should always keep an eye on a child’s motivation. As growing up in a world of technology offering an utmost amount of knowledge, children go through a difficult period of self-discovery managing to keep up their parents’ expectations.
Disinterest may even occur if the way of teaching is performed monotonously. For example, if a teacher strictly has to carry out their curriculum according to a schedule plan, then there is not enough time and space to take care of the individual needs of a student. Teachers themselves may also seem to be "burned out" since they have to work on the same topics and may indicate the same mistakes every year.
Does your child have a full scheduled week? Also, an overload may be a major role to lead to lack of motivation. School, music lessons, sports and no time to regenerate - all these factors may slowly result into resignation. Extracurricular interests should be more a part of stress relief rather than workload. The priority should be on the homework, and here parents should accommodate with all kinds of help.
What can parents do against this motivation problem?
First of all, one must realize that the excitement to study has been lagging. This can be seen, for example, in poor grades. Therefore, a conversation between the child and their parents is an important first step to bring an improvement. Parents are required just to listen to any problems and take the student seriously. Prejudices like "You're just too lazy." or "You are not studying enough." will only degrade the student’s situation rather than improve it.
As mentioned before: A student wants to achieve good grades. Parents should listen attentively and be aware of their problems. Only when a student feels to be taken seriously, then it is more easy to share the issues and overcome them.
Some will argue with "I can not do this." It may be true that at the moment there is little knowledge in a subject which the student is struggling with but it should be mentioned that this is always changeable - working together will improve the situation. One good approach is to help the student with their studies and find a good tutor to strengthen knowledge. Guidance through a student's academic career can make many changes towards the motivation of studying.
