- Learning Apathy in Students - Pawel Bialas
Young children usually thrive in a learning environment. As they experience success, their confidence increases and they seek out more ways to increase their knowledge and abilities. Inner pride is a feeling that they will want to experience again, and therefore, they will strive to do their best in most everything they try.
Some children may become discouraged and develop learning apathy at school, however. They may not be getting enough positive support from others, or they may be struggling with various subjects and skills. There may also be emotional or environmental factors involved with a child becoming apathetic about school and academics.
Whatever the reason for the sudden change in a student’s attitude toward school, it is very important to determine what it is and attempt to curb this problem, before the learning apathy becomes a habit that affects the child for the rest of her life. Identify the reason or reasons for the apathy, and do whatever it takes to correct the problem.
Causes of Negative Learning Attitude
There are several reasons why children become discouraged with school and learning. Author Lawrence J. Greene identifies several causes for academic apathy in his book titled, Roadblocks to Learning [1]. Each of the following reasons for underachievement, once identified, can be resolved with various tactics.
Here is a list of the causes of bad attitude in school:
- teaching style – lack of teacher-student engagement
- family values and/or problems at home – deficiency in the support from family, and positive interest and emphasis in the importance of learning
- unidentified learning disabilities – student may experience failure due to a learning disability, which can lower self-esteem
- unidentified emotional problems – depression, anger, and other emotional issues can be all consuming.
- peer and environmental factors – who the child hangs out with will determine his attitude about school
Identifying Learning Apathy
When a child develops a bad attitude about learning, it will be easy to spot. Homework may become sloppy or even incomplete. There will be an obvious resistance to doing any kind of schoolwork. Enthusiasm will be low or nonexistent. The child may also become forgetful, depressed, easily frustrated or angry. She may even say that school is dumb and complain that she hates school.
There may also be more subtle hints that point to a child developing learning apathy. A child may want to spend more time on the computer, TV, or on the phone with friends as a way to avoid homework. She may also become either resistant to help, or depend too much on it, rejecting the notion of doing anything independently. There may also be disruptive behavior at school or at home.
Ways to Motivate Students
The ways in which a parent or teacher can motivate an apathetic student will be different depending on the underlying cause or causes of the change in attitude about school. If the student seems to be bored with the teaching style, a teacher may want to make learning more fun and engaging. If a teacher is resistant to changing her style, parents may want to consider moving their child to a different classroom.
Imparting enthusiasm to a student who’s parents are less than bubbly about school may be more of a challenge. Root for the child’s intense interests, and use these within the classroom to try to improve the student’s interest in the academic subjects. Apply the real world to math, science and reading lessons and show that no matter what job a child may ultimately take, doing well in school will give him a head start.
Students with a suspected learning or emotional problem will need to be identified as soon as possible and tested. Early identification of these issues is vital in order to get a struggling student the help she needs and get her learning on the right track again. Increasing her chance for daily successes will increase her self-esteem and feed her enthusiasm for school.
If a student lands in a peer group of kids who devalue school, teachers and parents may want to work on making sure the student experiences successes and praise for good work within the classroom by placing the child with other achieving students. A teacher can work on getting the child into a group of students that is more enthusiastic about learning, and that recognizes successes of their classmates.
Kids thrive on positive attention from their parents, teachers, and peers. In order to keep learning apathy away, teachers need to insure that each of her students is engaged, and having fun in the classroom. Learning disabilities need to be watched for and identified, and academic successes must be praised in order to boost confidence and self-esteem. Children who develop learning apathy will need support from their parents, teachers and peer groups.
Reference:
Greene, Lawrence J., Roadblocks to Learning. NY: Warner Books, Inc., 2002.
Karen Plumley - Karen Plumley is a writer specializing in parenting and education. She works for Parenting NH and the Hippo, NH's most widely read ...
