How are Students Motivated?

In thinking about elite schools, what comes to mind is the caliber of the students they attract and seek – the smartest, most dedicated, and hardworking students. I think this stems from the highly competitive nature of so many elite schools, especially Everdeen in Australia. One student’s explanation from the interview paints Everdeen’s competitive environment as cutthroat and aggressive. The student explained that there is a ranking system for each subject which allows  students to see where they stand compared to the rest of their class. Students are continually trying to outperform their classmates, so that some are able to rise to the top. He also explained how the school is academically competitive with other schools. With competition so high at these institutions, it seems as though it may motivate the students to do well, which in turn allows the school to be competitive with others in the area.

Although this kind of environment can be very stressful, I think it would encourage many students to become high achievers. As someone who also attended a private high school, I was very interested to hear about the student ranking system since this is not something I encountered. To my knowledge, it was also not something that other private schools in my area valued. Despite the stress that the ranking can cause, I think it may have created highly motivated students. However, for me, the motivation source was different; rather than feeling pressure from the school and other students to do well, I felt that the pressure came more from my parents. While I applied pressure on myself, my parents were often very interested in my work, always encouraged me to push myself, and had high aspirations for me. I think some of the pressure I put on myself stemmed from the fact that I did not want to disappoint my parents. 

After thinking about Everdeen, it would make sense to expect that the parents of these students would have the same high expectations for them, especially because of the competitive nature that was so prevalent. In addition, there is often a steep price to send children to an elite school such as Everdeen, so it would make sense that parents would expect their children to take full advantage of the education they are receiving. Something I noticed in a couple of the interviews was that some parents did not have high expectations for their children, nor were they heavily invested in their performance. One student from Everdeen explained the expectations his parents had for him. In the interview he shared that his parents just expected that he would pass all of his classes and receive a 70% or higher. This then became the goal of the student. While I am not sure how well the student ended up doing in school, I can imagine that if his goals were to receive 70%  and higher, he probably didn’t work to do much better than that. Another student explained how her parents were not involved in her academics. She commented that they left it up to her to stay organized and on top of her work.  

This was quite surprising to read after seeing how competitive the school was and how motivated many students were to do well. Having parents who apply pressure and have high expectations might be a helpful way to become more motivated. For example, in high school, I struggled with self-motivation at times. Even though it was frustrating, having my parents there to apply pressure and hold me to high standards helped me to become a better student. I think it’s very easy for kids and teenagers to adopt the views and expectations of their parents. If someone’s parents do not have high expectations for them, this may affect how high the students set their own expectations, making it harder to reach their greatest potential. Still, some students are extremely self-motivated and may have other motivators that make them a strong student independently. 

References

Both of the images are taken from Imessage #images.