Why high school learning is broken & your teen is unmotivated

Time to strap in because today I want to dissect why your teen might have a complete lack of motivation at high school, why it's not their fault, whey the traditional school system does not cater for their needs, and what we can do about it.

How teenagers are being failed

As for all parents, when our daughter was born it opened us up to the enormous community and infrastructure that surrounds the world of babies and young children. It's quite staggering. There is just SO MUCH information, help, support and resources dedicated to making sure that children grow up to be the best they can be. Play groups for all ages, toy libraries, free seminars, library reading sessions, baby shows, nursery rhymes, playgrounds, about a million mummy blogs. It’s like the whole world puts in this collective effort to make sure that your baby / toddler is thriving and having fun.

But then these children reach high school age and the creativity, effort, infrastructure and support for children seems to evaporate in a musty-old-book-smell cloud of smoke. This is not to say that parents stop caring or teachers aren’t doing the best they can, but really what happens to that community collective effort dedicated to supporting your child’s development? It’s replaced with text books, a white board and an underpaid teacher who doesn't have the resources they need to inspire 30 teenagers who have diverse learning needs.

Again, not having a go at teachers here, I’m in awe of the job you do. I’m having a go at the system. Why do we cling on to a traditional education system that fails to inspire and motivate so many teenagers when we know that education delivered in a way that is both educational AND fun is the most effective kind? The other part that frustrates me so much is treating every teen like they’re the same when clearly this is not the case. If it was, then surely the range of exam results in any even class would be tiny!

I don’t think it’s news anymore that we all learn most effectively in our own individual way, and that traditional methods of teaching and learning are not going to work for every student. So why do we keep flogging that same horse?! This is kind of a rhetoric question because I think we generally already know the reasons why education systems continue to employ traditional methods of teaching. The question I’m more interested in is what can we do about it?

The winners and losers

Traditional high school learning works for self-driven teens who are lucky enough to be able to take in, process and retain information (i.e. study!) all on their own.

If your teen isn't self-driven or is lacking the tools they need to be competent at these three aspects of studying, then all of a sudden the mystery about why they're not reaching their academic potential is not so mysterious.

The truth is, they're not going to get the grades they're capable of simply by turning up to school and going through the motions of traditional classroom learning. They're going to have to figure out how THEY best take in, process and retain information, and apply this Study System every time they sit down at their desk at home.

It's not fair on them, but that's the only way they're going to get the grades they're capable of. They'll have to take their learning into their own hands, and figure out what works for them. In other words, they have to figure out what their unique Study System is.

The good news

I’m not just trying to have a rant here — if we recognise and acknowledge that for a lot of teens the system isn’t working then we can do something about it. If this is all resonating loud and clear with you about your teen, then hopefully it will provide a lot of comfort that it’s not that there’s something wrong with your teen, there’s something wrong with the system.

While the classroom may not provide your teen with the motivation and tools they need to reach their academic potential they're still lucky because they've got YOU! In just the same way you wanted to make sure that your little baby got the very best start in life, you can help your teen have the very best shot at reaching their potential at high school by helping them figure out their Study System.

I do hope that by the time our kids get to high school the world will better appreciate that all of us, from 0 to 100, learn in different ways and learn most effectively when we're inspired and engaged. Right now, the dedicated infrastructure recognising this is not there. But you and I are here and together there's no reason why your teen can't figure out what inspires them to learn and be the best that they can be. 

Thanks so much for reading.

Clare

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