Motivating High School Students in Singapore - Research Proposal Example

College: MOTIVATING HIGH SCHOOL IN SINGAPORE Education is a very crucial thing in our livesand the source of good life, which everybody wishes to live. In most countries many and constant reforms in education has led to poor quality of most schools, and poor achievement of students. There have always been many controversies on the quality of education, the accepted curricula, the management and accountability of school as well as teacher payment, exams and evaluations. All these interrupt the smooth learning of students, who instead need to be motivated. We need to know what to do in order to raise the amount of student effort and the quality of their lives. Most students believe in efforts and ability for their school achievement, and they wish to strike a good balance between achievement extremes. (Bandura Albert, 1995, p 53) Motivation does not come naturally. Students need constant efforts because many of their school policies discourage their efforts, they also have to study on few incentives, they are affected by peer pressure, and most at times their intentions tend to backfire. Students therefore need to be taught on how to combine perspiration with inspiration in order to attain higher grades. They should be used to higher standards and expectations, as well as trying to persuade them to work hard. They need to get the right signals concerning what the purpose of education and achievement is. Teenagers on the other hand need to be encouraged to have good social life, to learn, focusing on getting a good job and pursue other important aspects of life. We need to understand that there is a lot of education mediocrity, hence work on making sure that students focus on academic learning as their number one priority. They should not be allowed to create learning schedules because peers do not love reading, hence accord it one hour. (Bandura Albert, 1995, p 53) One has to be triggered to be motivated. There are always reasons as to why people engage in certain kinds of behaviour, and that is what is known as motivation. Volition is another important thing in life as a student. This is the process of cognition used by individuals in order to take a certain course of action. It goes hand in hand with motivation, and it occurs consciously, then converted to a habit over some time. Completion of high school has been rated as a necessity in life, as well as in any job market of Singapore, and this should be made known to students. It has been evident that even schools give ambivalent messages as to why academic achievement is important. They ought to understand that adolescents always have a great desire to belong to a certain peer group which has similar qualities as individuals, and a few students value excelling in academics, hence being triggered. (Rheinberg Falko 1997, p.11) Education is very important. That is why teachers are said to be equally important as journalists or even physicians. They are always required to improve knowledge in students which is the very basic thing in their lives. It is not advisable for teachers to behave like they have mercies on low performers in class, because this kills their morale in class. It is good to guide them and advice them on how to improve their performance. Make them understand that learning plus academic effort is crucial. For students to acquire a certain career, they must pass through school and learn because it is evident that Education is the basis for civilization. That is why young people are not supposed to have mixed perceptions about education and their future. Take a good example of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It gives a detailed explanation of what we as human beings require in life and then calls for people to balance those needs so as to succeed. (Bandura Albert, 1995, p. 21) The basic needs for human beings are said to be food, shelter and clothing, but this is not enough, we require more than that. We can call them physiological needs, safety, a sense of belonging, self esteem, and self actualization. Education falls in the second category according to Maslow. To acquire the other needs like esteem, and self actualization one has to be educated. Education is all what accords us respect from others and gives us a high sense of self esteem, because this makes us know that we are “somebody” to others. All what students need to know is they should have priorities for what they want in life. The educators should consider students with disabilities and encourage them accordingly, so as to compete with the others accordingly. (Maslow Harold, 1993, p.7) Educators need to insist on “doing the best” for the students, and making them understand that individual excellence leads to public recognition. There is need to establish a balance the format of schooling for rewards from efforts and rewards for ability. Obstacles to innovative class practices should be eliminated among students and emphasize on cooperative learning and adopt the right incentives and system. This gives them the morale to work hard instead of competing amongst themselves. They need to be taught how to learn, and given support which matches to their course demands. Motivation gives the young the courage to face any difficulties they encounter in life. It is good for them to learn to be motivated always, because that is what determines the kind of a college they would attend, in order to shape your career. They need to lay their base right when young and aim for higher things in life. (Rheinberg Falko, 1997, p 171) Rewards in life come in two groups: you can acquire intrinsic rewards or even extrinsic rewards and it is true that each and every person would wish to acquire such rewards in life. Intrinsic rewards are usually internal to a person, they are always associated with being satisfied in life, for having accomplished that you wanted, and attained your goals. Extrinsic rewards on the other hand are external to an individual as the name suggests. All of us wish to acquire a lot of money in future, and do great things with it. That is what we call extrinsic rewards and is usually associated with praises from others, and infact money has turned out to be a basic need in our lives. That is all what everybody is struggling to achieve. (Amabile Teresa, 1996, p.118) Each young person wishes to acquire a sense of worth and fame, but this does not come automatically. It calls for very many things to be put in practice. It calls for self determination and motivation still. Being in school accords these students a good environment to study hard. At least there teachers try as much as possible to ensure that, all their needs are provided, and that the environment appears conducive for each one of them to learn. We all have different backgrounds but when our parents sent us to schools, it is because they want us to be detached from that home environment, which has many destructions, and settle in schools and learn. Schools are good places for all of us, because education does not come to an end. We keep on advancing further and further inorder to achieve the best for ourselves. (Wragg Conrald 1989, p.193) Students should be encouraged to be comfortable with the place (school) and work as a family in order to be helpful to each other and work towards a common goal. Schools operate like one big family where students and teachers work together. It becomes such a nice thing to see the young following the right direction of life. There are of course many problems associated with teenagers and their motivation. Most teenagers have low motivation, and their brains are less active when it comes to motivation. That is why they need constant reminders about it. Teenagers are ever willing to indulge in dangerous behaviour than in creative activities, because of peer pressure. It is easy for them to abuse drugs and even take alcohol, than study. According to scientific studies, teenagers have a low activity of their brains when it comes to “calculating risk and reward.” Most of them do not have to think twice about something they would like to engage in. They don’t care whatever risk there might be in or rewards if any. All they want is satisfaction after doing what they want to do. They seek to attain stimulation in that part of their brains, hence some crude behaviours. (Rheinberg Falko 1997, p 13) Statistics also show that brain circuitry for teenagers is always very low, compared to that of adults, hence they need to be motivated. That is why they always require a stimulus that is extreme inorder to raise their levels of brain activity. The notion is always that rewards in life are long term expectations, and therefore read negatively to such motivations leading to rewards in later lives. This leads us to reasons as to why teenagers need thorough cautions about their lives and constant reminders that they still have a long way to go. However this should be done tactfully. (Amabile Teresa 1996, p. 117) Depression is another cause of low motivation in adolescents. It leads to decreased/lack of interest in any activity. It can also lead to drug abuse to cope with it. Teens need to be understood and handled with a lot of great care inorder to assist them where necessary. Teachers as well as parents are the people who have great impact on students. They are the people who can also dictate the future lives of students hence they need skills to effect this. Teachers should be very careful in noticing behavior changes for students in classrooms. Researchers found out that teachers need to have 100 hours of credit for professional development in at least 5 years. This is because teachers ought to equip students with many skills and even skills to cope with modern life. They are also supposed to teach the new education standards to students all the time in order to keep them updated. (Wragg Conraid 1989, p. 192) Teachers need to be tactful in how they handle students. Mostly they can achieve this by monitoring other teachers and applying new teaching skills in classrooms. They should know how to deal with different characters of students and be able to foster enhancement for students in their professional and chosen careers. They should provide equality in life to students in a balanced way, such that they don’t find it harsh. Students should be able to achieve their aspirations and personal motivation at all times. Leadership which comes from experiment is commendable and that is why I find it easy to help students sail through in their careers. (Wragg Conraid, 1989, pg. 193) This is why the ministry of education in Singapore emphasizes that teachers need to prepare the young for future innovations. They ought to keep schools up to their standards, and have passion on their work, in order to keep upgrading the students in what they do. They need to focus on progress and keep sight on the broader outcomes of education. It is also the reason as to why the ministry has enacted regulatory systems for different schools. They launched the Enhanced Performance Management system as an appraisal system for the country, which evaluates the performance of teachers. Teachers therefore need to be very careful on what they exercise in their career, and help students exhaustively. (Bandura A. pg. 331) LIST OF REFERENCES Amabile M. Teresa (1996) Creativity in context, Westview Press, ISBN 0813330343 Bandura Albert (1995) Self efficiency in changing societies, Cambridge University. ISBN 0521586968 Maslow Harold Abraham (1993) The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, Arkana, ISBN 0140194703 Smith K. Peter, and Pellegrini Anthony (2000) Psychology of education: Major themes. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 0415193044 Rheinberg Falko (1997) Motivation, Kohlhammer, ISBN 3170151649 Wragg Conraid Edward (1989) Classroom teaching skills: The research findings, Routledge, ISBN 041039398 Read More