“I Don’t Like School” (Part I)
“But I don’t like school!”
It’s a fairly common phrase amongst teenagers. It’s the argument ender- the final retort to a host of parental queries (“Why aren’t you doing your homework? Why does your report card look like this? Why don’t you try harder?”). Saying “I don’t like school” shuts down the conversation—how can you encourage your child to do well if they really just don’t care?
This is a complex phrase. “I don’t like school” often obscures your child’s real motivations. Your child does not just not like school like they dislike a certain flavor of ice cream. They may be discouraged, anxious, burnt-out, frustrated, bored, or tired. In short, the phrase “I don’t like school” reveals the status of your child’s motivation.
What is motivation?
When most of us think about motivation, we tend to think of an intrinsic drive, some sort of core strength that enables people to work hard and to keep going at a difficult task. However, educational psychologists see it as a bit more complex. There are four key reasons for low motivation: ability beliefs, effort beliefs, characteristics of the task, and value placed on the task. The chart below helps define each of these reasons:
Each of these reasons requires its own solution. By understanding which reason underlies your child’s actions, you can start helping your child become and stay motivated.
Ability Beliefs
A child with a negative ability belief thinks that they cannot accomplish a certain task. You might catch them beginning a task, trying for a little bit, sighing with frustration, and then giving up. They might say something like, “I can’t do this!” or “It’s too difficult” or “It doesn’t make sense!”
A student in this situation needs a chance to build up their competence. As a parent, there are a few things you can do to help your child counteract a negative ability belief:
Don’t disassociate actions and results. Your child’s confusion or bad grade might lead you to accuse the teacher of unfairness or bad teaching. However, these accusations sabotage your child with a sense of helplessness, as if nothing they can do will make them succeed.
Assess gaps in knowledge. Competence begins with understanding and practice of a specific skill. Don’t let your child get away with saying “I don’t want to write the essay.” Upon digging a little deeper, you might learn that they do not know what to write about. You dig a little deeper than that, and it turns out that they actually do not understand the expectations of the assignment. Finding the fundamental problem will help them focus on the actual skill they need to develop.
Ask for feedback. Encourage your child to ask their teacher for specific, actionable feedback on their assignments. The teacher has the best view of your child’s strengths and weaknesses, and can give clarity about areas of incompetence.
Characteristics of the Task
Children who lack motivation because of the characteristics of the task find a particular school activity boring, too easy, or unclear. If you see your child procrastinating on a task that they would normally find easy, this is likely the reason.
Solving your child’s dislike of characteristics of the task begins with boosting their current interest. Help them find the piece of the task that they do enjoy and work from there. For example, a native Spanish speaker taking a Spanish class might find the class boring, but might be able to use their preexisting knowledge to engage more in class and help their peers. Or a student who finds math problems easy might want to add an extra challenge, like timing themselves to see how quickly they can finish the page of problems. As a parent, you know your child, and so can be strategic about adding these extra challenges in the face of their boredom and apathy.
*Stay tuned for part two, which will deal with effort beliefs and the student’s value of the task! *