Why am I not interested in studying?

Thousands of schoolchildren from different countries have explained what determines their learning motivation.

The number of children who have no educational motivation is growing: 40% of high school students and 50% of students high school have no interest in learning.
British scientists, relying on data from surveys conducted by their European (including Russian) and American colleagues, tried to find out the position of the students themselves regarding what affects their learning motivation. More than thirteen thousand schoolchildren participated in the study.

Student position. At some point, the guys conclude which subjects they like more and which ones less (for many reasons, not always related to school). They are not inclined to change their conclusions, and this has a huge impact on the success of the student, his activity in this area.
Much depends on the parents - their attitudes towards what subjects are more difficult or more interesting. It is also important how much the teacher believes in the student's personal success. However, seven out of eight respondents believe that everything depends on themselves, on their ability to concentrate and organize themselves.
Utility. Pupils are ready to spend energy on what they think can be useful in life, as well as on what meets their inner needs. Moreover, girls more often mistake school requirements for vital, personally significant ones. Boys, on the other hand, tend to think that school is something separate, not real. Moreover, it interferes with living a real life, interferes with learning the real business. Therefore, failing in school does not mean that they cannot succeed in their area of ​​interest outside of the classroom. So, sometimes the worst students in literature are sure that they will become writers and journalists.
Perhaps this is not a bad thing. But if school requirements are not taken seriously, if bad grades mean nothing to a child, then there is no motivation to study, to work on oneself. The teenager expects that the time will come and he will somehow suddenly be able to show everyone ...
Russian teenagers more often than European and American teenagers believe that school prepares them for life, that good studies will help them make a career. This is due to the position of the parents, public opinion.
British researchers think that as the labor market develops, Russian children will have a more realistic understanding of the role of school education in achieving social success, and illusions will be dispelled. Or the school will change, and will begin to really teach children what will be useful for them in life.

The influence of the teacher. The teacher's own enthusiasm, his ability to make the lesson entertaining, unusual, has a positive effect on the child's motivation. Children prefer active activity to passive listening, their own initiative to fulfill orders, group work to individual. And of course, they are frightened off by difficult tasks. Only a feasible job arouses interest.
Boys emphasize that it is easier for them to interact with teachers who are flexible enough, ready to accept someone else's point of view. And most importantly, they know how to listen. Too definite people, with a narrow range of allowed opportunities, closed to everything unusual, discourage them from work.
In general, the role of the teacher is much more important for boys than for girls. Sometimes a change in this factor alone will drastically change the adolescent's attitude to school.

The influence of the outside world. Children tend to get carried away with things that are respected by their peers, appreciated in their company. Nobody wants to be a black sheep. American teenagers are especially worried about this. But in Russia, schoolchildren are less afraid of being rejected because of good grades, because of their interest in science.
A great influence on the educational motivation of a teenager is exerted by his parents, the cultural environment in which he lives. In particular, the ideas of close people about how success is achieved in life and in study: through labor, effort, or through natural abilities and talent. If the emphasis is on the latter, any failure will greatly affect the child's self-esteem and reduce his level of motivation.

Recognition and appreciation. Pupils are interested in things that require some kind of effort, but these efforts should be noticed and appreciated both by the teacher and by other significant people: peers, parents.
It is especially important for girls to master universal study skills, to understand how to learn, how to assess themselves. Otherwise, they lose confidence: it begins to seem to them that they do not know anything, cannot learn, and therefore do not want to.

Education system. For many students, education can become a hindrance to communication with peers, and this is often one of the reasons for the loss of interest in science.
Many are discouraged by the unspoken belief that education is not available to everyone, but only to a select few. Some students don't even try to learn. After all, if it does not work out, you will have to admit that you are not from the elite. Why once again prove the unpleasant?
We repeat, these conclusions were obtained as a result of the analysis of data from thirteen thousand questionnaires. Perhaps there is nothing new in them, previously unknown to teachers. However, the most interesting thing here is that we have before us not the judgments of adults, but the opinion of adolescents. If the views of the teacher coincide with the opinions of the pupils, then he is on the right track.
One more thing: if motivation depends on so many difficult-to-change reasons, it may be worth working harder to ensure that young children do not discourage their natural desire to learn and be successful.
Then at the age of 11-16 you will not have to solve the painful problem of returning a child to school and education.

Hello! Please help me with advice, I just don't know what to do, patience is already running out. The child is in the 3rd grade, there is only a week left to go to school (the school administration extended the May holidays for us due to the summer holidays)! We just have the most difficult week left - all the final tests, control ones are being passed. But the morning for me is torment, it is impossible to lift a child and force him to go to school, every morning we pass with hysterics and shouts “I don’t want! Will not go!" etc. Every morning, the son feels himself hopefully (what if something is ill?), Sniffs defiantly, complains of a headache, in general, he does everything to stay at home. When to get ready for school or to do homework, he can spend hours picking food with a fork, as if it would save him from going to school. All morning you have to rock it and rush it, there is no longer any strength! I tried to ask questions, I thought, suddenly, he was offended at school. No, relations with classmates are normal. He says that he is tired of studying, tired and generally not interested in him! I remember myself at school, it was also not always interesting, but I didn't throw tantrums to my parents, I was getting ready and going to study. Even the new Minister of Education in an interview with Kandelaki said that children do not want to go to school: he talked about modern technologies that will be used in schools, new young teachers that can make the learning process more interesting (http://www.youtube.com / watch? v = bgeQmhwltes & list = UU20O7fAUu98ZqjrFfMHyLtw & index = 5 & feature = plpp_video). In general, he said that soon the children will go to school with pleasure. I don’t know how this is possible at all, since school is still a routine, I just don’t imagine what such technologies can be used so that children suddenly begin to learn with interest when there are so many much more interesting activities around! Although, of course, I hope that I simply do not understand anything in modern education, that in fact, if you want to, you can come up with something. In any case, it is not clear when and who will come up with all this and whether there will be at all, but the problem is now and it needs to be solved, after all, the child has only a week to finish his studies, write control tests and rest quietly, but you can't force it! If someone knows, please tell me what to do so as not to force your son, but somehow motivate him to finish his studies normally at least this last week! And maybe someone can tell you how you can independently interest the child in learning, otherwise I feel that after the holidays we will return to this issue with him? ...

“How did you leave? Why?!" - I hear this phrase every time I try to answer the question of why I am not at the university now. "You probably had something bad happened, because of what you had to leave, right?" Of course, no one just leaves the university, right? Or not?

Realizing that, apart from such a reaction, my departure will not cause anything else, I try not to answer this question or to avoid discussions, because everyone considers it his duty to tell me that I did the wrong thing. Over time, I realized that there is no point in being ashamed of my decision, especially if I believe that I did it 100% right.

Therefore, I want to tell you why the university in its current state is not what I, you and your children need.

We want to be like the rest

Think about what happens in schools with children who wear glasses or are trying to study well. At best, they will not be accepted into the company of "cool", at worst - the main goal of this company will be to make their life unbearable. But, of course, what do they like to say there? "They're children, they don't understand." Well, yes, they do not understand.

So, from the very childhood, we want to be the same as others. What do “everyone else” do after school? They are trying to get into the university. Preferably on a budget. If this succeeds, the maximum goal is achieved. If not, then your parents will have to spend thousands of dollars on your education, or choose an educational institution that is simpler - a technical school or a trendy college, which, in fact, is the same technical school.

The time begins, which is spoken of as the best time in a person's life, meaning, of course, not study. But rather that you will drink (a lot), communicate with the opposite sex and sometimes go to class, trying to sit out at least half. After rereading this paragraph, I realized that it didn’t sound so bad.

And that's enough for most. They forget about how much time goes into emptiness, how much money is spent on studies that do not bring any benefit. For example, I did not study at the most expensive university in Ukraine, and during this time 7,000 dollars were spent on study alone. I think this is my parents' biggest investment in me. Was it justified? Alas.

Studying at university is not the only way

How many courses could I attend with this money? Courses of real professionals who have devoted decades of their work, who adore what they do and are ready to share useful knowledge. How many books could you buy? I will end up with trivial questions, you already know the answer.

Studying at a university no longer guarantees professional success in the future.

One of the reasons for this is motivation. When we do what we like, we are guided. That is, we like the process itself. Money, encouragement, or praise fades into the background. After all, you must agree, it is much more pleasant to be engaged in business and to enjoy not only the reward, but also from the process itself.

Unfortunately, the university is taking a completely different path. Learning involves boredom, monotony and lack of interest, all for the sake of an ephemeral figure in a paper magazine. And if these ephemeral numbers are good, then in five years you can get an ephemeral red plastic paper. It's worth living for.

This is akin to drinking cola for a long time and forgetting that you can quench your thirst with water. Or when you drive a car for a long time and forget that you can walk to a cafe from work. The same is with the university.

We forget that the learning process itself, and then the work itself, can be enjoyable.

I have a friend who also left the university. Four years of study at the university made it possible to understand that he wants something different. In his case, it's design. Only six months of intensive self-study, several unsuccessful attempts to get a job, and he still works as a web designer. This is not the company of his dreams yet, but definitely one of the steps on the road to it. This example is very inspiring.

Doesn't mean that you have to lock yourself in a room and not contact other people. Seminars, conferences, people with similar interests - you have great amount ways to communicate with interesting people, and most importantly - to learn. When you study not for a reward in the future, but simply because you enjoy it, the process itself is insanely interspersed.

I was finally able to articulate what I dislike the most about university:

There is no passion in university studies.

Moreover, if you come there with your passion, it will surely be beaten off from you. Universities in their current state are killing the desire to learn. This even applies to medicine, which the advocates of standard education are so fond of citing. In my city, the medical university has long earned a reputation as the most bribery educational institution. Remember this when you come to see a young specialist.

Wouldn't it be more logical to choose interesting items yourself? But no, the financier needs to teach philosophy, medicine - the history of economic thought, and the architect - chemistry. Expanding horizons - is that what it's called? I do not want to expand my horizons with useless knowledge multiplied by the teacher's subjectivity.

By learning on your own, you can choose your own path.

Want to learn English language? You can create a program that includes watching movies in the original with subtitles, reading English books, learning new words from articles on the Internet, and using Duolingo. This is much better than sitting with Golitsinsky's textbook every day, from which, over time, bouts of nausea begin to appear.

With the advent of services such as, it becomes clear that something needs to be changed in the current education system. Self-education makes it possible to feel that your knowledge is useful and useful in real life. You will not always go forward, sometimes you have to radically change something, but it's still a thousand times better.

Getting a university crust is no longer a safe and far from the most interesting life path. Don't try to be like others, be special and forget that university is the only way. There are others.

Dmitry P., grade 11: “To make it interesting to study at school, we need to introduce more practical, cognitive lessons. This proposal applies not only to physics, chemistry, which traditionally carry out laboratory work. Why not make math lessons closer to practice, for example? Show relevant interesting films. Come up with examples and tasks for cases that occur in real life. After all, what is interesting is not what is abstract, but what is concrete, what the student understands, what he can use. "

Irina K., grade 7: “To make it interesting at school, you need to unload the children at recess. Each break should be 30 minutes long, not just a big one. And during recess, children should be allowed to go out. For some reason we are not allowed. Let the children run during recess! And in winter, when they go out into the street, they skate near the school on the skating rink. Well, of course, then a skating rink should be built near each school. "

Maria L., grade 10: “It is interesting and comfortable at school for each individual person when he is personally recognized and respected. After all, everyone has at least some achievements, something that he succeeds. Let some girl in math lessons not be the best student, but she, for example, is great at sewing, and she needs to be praised in technology lessons. Now, it seems to me, the problem with Russian schools is that a child's success is his own business. Only mom or dad will praise for achievements, and even then not always. They work, they have no time. If there are no twos in the diary, then you can not talk about studying with your son or daughter, not delve into his problems. And our teachers no longer praise even excellent students. They also have no time. They are busy with paperwork and reporting activities. Now our class teacher must also fill out electronic diaries for us. The teachers do not have time to pay attention to us, they would have a good lesson. And in this lesson, almost no one is asked. If the child does not understand something, it becomes clear only on the control. My mother told me that earlier, when she was in school, teachers stayed after lessons with the guys who were lagging behind and studied with them for free. And there were also pioneers, and those pioneers who studied with "excellent marks" were also supposed to help students with poor grades in their class for free. And now the only hope is for the tutor. And whether you study badly or well, teachers and your classmates do not really care. This is your own business. Every man for himself".

Mikhail S., grade 11: “I believe that in order to go to school with pleasure, a person must feel comfortable among his classmates. So that people come to school not only to study, but also to communicate with friends. For this, students in the class should be united not only by study, but also by joint activities. Visiting cinemas, hiking trips. Teachers almost never go on such trips with us. And we ourselves are too lazy to unite, probably. If I offer this in class, they won't understand me. "

Elena D., grade 8: “To make it interesting at school, teachers should be closer to the students. We have teachers who are scared to approach and ask them about something if you do not understand the lesson. One such teacher always looks down on us and says in surprise: “Well, don't you really understand that ?! This is so clear !!! " And you feel like a complete idiot. But this is clear to her, she is a professional. And we need to explain, not despise for ignorance. This attitude creates knowledge gaps and makes lessons uninteresting. It’s interesting first of all when you understand everything and feel successful ”.

The answers of high school students were assessed by an experienced teacher Lyubov Aleksandrovna Pavlova, director of the Ermolino school from the village of Ermolino, Novgorod district, Novgorod region:

I largely agree with all the students who have expressed themselves. It is necessary to change the school environment in which the child is located, so that he was interested.

That we are now moving to new federal state educational standards, in my opinion, can help in achieving this goal. During the transition to the new federal state educational standards and classrooms, they are equipped differently, and textbooks are constructed in a completely different way. And it is in them that a great practical orientation of the child's activity is laid. Teachers' extracurricular activities are now paid and should be enthusiastic about teachers. In our district this academic year, not only students are involved in the transition to the new federal state educational standards. primary school but also experimentally fifth grades in three schools.

Fifth graders in the afternoon will attend various clubs, hobby groups, excursions, lectures, and so on. And this direction is connected precisely with the fact that each child can express himself not only in some academic subject or subjects, but also in any other kind of activity where he will be successful. I agree that every child should be praised for their accomplishments. In our school, for example, not only excellent students are encouraged. We have contests "Student of the Year", "Sports Class of the Year", "Sportsman of the Year". Not everyone is given to be, for example, a mathematician, and it is not necessary for everyone to be guided to a university after leaving school. The benchmark should be on something else - to give each child the opportunity to find himself, to develop in what he has an interest in. And for the successful achievement of this goal, three components must coincide. The child's motivation for learning will be supported if we organize a creative union of three forces - teachers, parents and the student himself.

Photo from the resource - http://tr.fotolia.com/id/24695897

P. S... from the author

We can agree with many of the opinions of those who have spoken on this topic. Let's add one more thing - in order to make it interesting to study at school, you need not only to expect changes from others, but also to change yourself. Maybe reconsider your home routine? Ask yourself: haven't I spent a lot of time “surfing the Internet,” leaving difficult homework assignments late at night, or even downloading answers to them from the Internet? Do I think about my future and do I plan to go to university or college after school? What subjects do I need to study more thoroughly for this? How do I behave in the lesson - listening to the teacher's story or “going through the levels” in a computer game on my phone? After all, the main person on whom my successful studies and my whole life depend is myself.