Are you frustrated by an underachiever in your life? If you’ve ever wondered how your child can spend hours on the computer, but only minutes on algebra, a newly released study may have the answer. It appears that those who are “chronically uninterested in achievement” are not operating out of a desire to do badly [...]
Underachievers Play Their Way to Success
Brainology: Motivated to Achieve!
“Students do much better when they believe that doing well is a function of hard work as opposed to innate talent.” Why do some kids put forth little effort in school while others are motivated to achieve their personal best? Over the past two decades, the main goal of Brainology, co-founded by Carols S. Dweck, [...]
Breaking Through the ‘Motivation Brick Wall’
Richard Lavoie, educator and author, talks to USA Today about how to motivate kids. “The most important thing parents and teachers need to do is to keep in mind the balance between what I call support and challenge. You need to constantly challenge kids. But you need to give them the support to meet those [...]
Declaring a Major in High School
In over 1,200 schools across the country, students are required to pick a major or area of interest. The Christian Science Monitor reports on two different approaches schools take and the criticism levied against the concept. Some schools have an exhaustive list of specific majors — 443 in the case of Florida schools — mapping [...]
Are You Punishing Your Child with Rewards?
Heard the wry comment that parenting is finding the balance between threats and bribes? Author Alfie Kohn explains in this interview that by rewarding our children, we teach them to work for the reward instead of for the original objective. “More than 70 studies have found that the more you reward people for doing something, [...]
Why Procrastinate Now when you can do it Tomorrow?
Procrastination makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier. Ten years after starting his five year project, a Canadian industrial psychologist finds that while in 1978, only about 5 percent of the American public thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators, now it’s 26 percent, CNN.com reports. He also found that the young are more like to procrastinate [...]
Motivating Good Grades
The Seattle Times article on student motivation says learning should be its own reward. For students who don’t see why they need to apply themselves in school, rewards can kick-start academic interests. But for students in general, experts discourage conditioning students to expect treats for school work. So what can you do? The article gives [...]
