A strong correlation between student achievement and motivation to learn has been established by researchers. Motivation and enthusiasm represent desire and interest. Atkinson and Feather posit in their need achievement theory that children face a central conflict, namely, the striving to succeed and the urge to avoid failure (qt. in National Research Council & the Institute of Medicine). We often view motivation as the extrinsic things that people want. We learn because we want to get a good job or we go to our job because we want money. Motivation can be described as the amount that we spend on a task and how much value the task has to us, whether we want to learn to do it, or whether we can do it or not. I would love to be a dancer, but I don’t believe that I’ll be able to do that, so while my desire to do it is strong, my expectation that I’ll be successful at it is very low, and therefore, my motivation is low.
Lack of motivation is a big problem among children. We know that education is the key to success for every country. Education helps to boost the economy and to generate democratic societies. Today, the younger generation does not have much interest in education. If we look at the education system, students’ interest to achieve higher education is low; in other words, students have a low motivation towards education, in the current setting. Research shows that students just want to get a certificate or degree with passing grades only. Students do not want to understand education properly. As we compare to previous years, there are more older people coming to a school than younger ones because at a younger age, they do not have any motive or interest in their education and they realize the importance of education at an older age. This is very common today.
Lack of motivation is one big reason that could make one’s life unhappy. There are a lot of reasons behind the loss of interest in education among children such as increasing media and new technology.
Today, new technology and various discoveries that make life better and comfortable have been invented or made. Out of various technologies, media is also one of them. Media is the way through which a lot of information can be gotten and through which people can know about the world while sitting at home. According to ‘Monitor on Psychology’ by Clay, media is becoming the cause of the loss of desire among the young generation. Interesting and entertainment programs are creating a big obstacle for students at an early age.
Media provides too many distractions. Children watch cartoons at the time of eating, sleeping, and studying. So, in this way, their minds are toward television all the time. According to the aforementioned article, children between the age of five and eighteen spend an average of almost five and a half hours a day watching television, playing a video game, surfing the web, or using some other forms of media. Television and another kind of media are developing the habit of text messaging while students are at school and college.
Today, students are going to schools or colleges with a cell phone on one hand and books on the other hand. One can see this everywhere in our society. Several students are coming to school without intention in their life. In a classroom, they do not have attentive minds toward any particular subject the teacher is instructing. Instead of listening to the teacher, they think text messaging is very important. Text messaging is increasing among students and is become some kind of modern fashion. They always need cell phones as they need food to survive.
In some cases, teachers can be blamed for the deteriorating motivation among schoolers because of either failing to stop and discourage the behavior adopted by children that could otherwise divert attention for education, or for reinforcing these behaviors. Even though they are physically present in school, they are not there mentally and their minds are revolving around worldly things. According to the ‘monitor on psychology’, more students take the habit of text messaging by watching other students do it. Students learn more to watch their surroundings. Sometimes, the surrounding atmosphere can spoil the future of good students. For example, a good student notices that his friend is engaging in text messaging in a classroom and find that the teacher does not discourage or thoroughly punish the behavior, the behavior is spread to colleagues. Because of the time wasted on the behavior, the performance is negatively affected and this may make the student lose interest in learning activities.
Text messaging and modern media hurt children and especially in the coming generation. Media is developing aggressive behavior among children. According to ‘monitor on psychology’, studies have shown that about 13 percentage of students increase in aggressive behavior after watching television and playing video games.
Media can be blamed for increasingly filming violent scenes and programs. Watching the violence in the media channels is the result of students’ aggressive behavior. Over sixty percent of television shows being shown in primetime contain some form of violence. Risky behavior of children and adults can include violence among others. Due to their aggressive behavior, students have no respect toward their parents and teachers. Research has also shown heavy views, which is four or more hours a day, put less effort at school.
Weakness in studies is the outcome of children who regularly watch television. They have poor reading skills and cannot be able to read and have less concentration toward studies. The media is destroying their internal interest in education. Their lack of interest in education makes them illiterate.
Illiteracy is the long-term effect of media on children. The Illiterate doesn’t only mean those who cannot read and write, but also those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. Research shows that children who take more time in watching television and slow their minds towards TV cannot concentrate on their studies. The result is that they become illiterate throughout their lives. Their wastage of time on TV leads them to illiteracy.
The solution to this problem is diverse. One approach is ensuring that motivation is encouraged in our education system; i.e. the curriculum must ensure that students are motivated as they learn. The education system must foster the improvement of the cycle of motivation as posited by Arthur Robinson, that students like doing activities which they excel in, and excel in activities they like. Therefore, the curriculum must thoroughly identify the many options available for specializing at higher levels of education and encourage student participation in the related decision-making process. In addition, the curriculum must ensure there is a blend between work and play.
Erosion of motivation among children is becoming a serious problem. We should take some steps to increase the motivation among children. Parents can play important role in creating interest among students. Parents should take special care of their children’s activities. They can limit their child to watch T.V and playing of videogames. They should fix their time to watch television. Parents should accompany their children to watch T.V so that they know what kind of programs they are watching and encourage the student to watch more educational programs instead of watching movies and playing video games.
On the other hand, teachers’ inputs are also necessary to make a responsible student. To stop their text messaging, teachers will have to have very strict regulations and rules on this issue. It is possible only if students do a little contribution to them. They can follow the rule made by the teachers.
References
- Atkinson, J. W., & Feather, N. T. (1966). A theory of achievement motivation. New York: Wiley
- National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine. (2004). Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Motivation to Learn. Committee on Increasing High School Students’ Engagement and Motivation to Learn. Board on Children, Youth, and Families, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Review by Terrel Strayhorn. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press
- Robinson Arthur. (2009). Motivation by excellence: The trick is to be so skilled at work that it becomes play. Web.