Academic Motivation

By: Sofia Pyasta

      Students spend the majority of their time in school, learning, working, and socializing. This has been an everyday routine for them for years, but what is it that motivates them to keep going every single day? What is it that makes them want to get good grades? To come to school? To do their work?

​

     When asked this question, there were many recurring themes: family, future careers, and personal achievements. Almost everyone interviewed at least mentioned family, whether that was to please their family, competition within their families, or doing it as a habit that they were raised knowing. One student stated, “It’s like something that I know I have to do without anyone telling me to. That like expectation and those thoughts have been something engraved into my brain from when I was a child, and it’s something that I don’t even question anymore.” Many students agreed, also adding that there was even more pressure added if there was competition within their families. They mentioned that something important to their families was accomplishing more than someone else, something that they were expected to do, feeling constantly compared to others. 

​

     One answer that was said, but rarely, was that students were motivated by their own wants for these achievements. Maybe mentioned one or two times, this is something that is seen less and less, even though it should be the highest motivator for students. Students have gotten into the habits of learning to please others, like their families, or even their school, when they should be doing it for themselves, and being proud of their accomplishments. When one student was asked about this, they responded with, “I mean, I get it, but it just feels like a lot of pressure every day to keep going, and I feel like me wanting it would just add to that pressure. Maybe if there weren’t this many expectations, I’d feel like I would have room to think about my own goals and motivations, but it just feels like more of something I have no choice in with these expectations.”

     While it is important to have students surrounded by people and goals motivating them to keep going and be doing their best, it’s also important to leave room for students to find their own motivations and set goals for themselves based on their own thoughts and opinions, something that a lot of students do not even see as a choice for themselves.