Fixing the Machine

Some thoughts on student apathy in schools

School Is a Motivation Machine

Every year I set myself some summer goals. This year I wanted to work on my Spanish skills, learn a bit of knot theory, get ahead on some writing projects, do a few things around the house, and prep for the new curriculum this year. I made a little progress on each of them, but I also did way less than I hoped to. They were all projects I enjoy and thought I would spend time on — I really want to improve my Spanish skills, I like learning new math, I like writing, and so on. But it was hard to stick to a consistent schedule. I would feel tired or have something else going on and I wouldn't work on something for a few days. Even when I put time in I was prone to giving up when something felt hard or I got frustrated.

My partially-finished summer projects are a good reminder that, despite what lots of people like to say, schools are really good at motivating kids to learn. We're not perfect by any means, but the reality is that motivating people to learn is hard. Really hard. One good way to get people to learn is to bring them together in groups for a regular schedule of learning activities run by people with relevant expertise. Schools have always fallen short for some kids. But I think it’s kindof amazing that school motivates so many kids to delay gratification and learn things that will open doors for them in the future.

In the last fifteen years a lot of people have tried to revolutionize education by using the internet to make learning available to more people. This works for a small fraction of the most motivated. Maybe it’s 5%, or 10%, or 15%, depending on the product. I’m happy those things exist. School exists for the rest.

Apathy

This video has been on my mind a lot this summer.

A lot of teachers reading this post are thinking, “ok, sure, all that stuff about motivation used to be true. But since the pandemic things have changed. Kids don’t care anymore.” I see that too. Kids wandering the hallways or hanging out in the bathroom to avoid going to class. Kids in class who won’t put in any effort. Kids not in school at all. I want to offer my perspective on apathy, and offer a potential solution that’s different than what I see a lot of schools doing.

Stepping back for a moment, what motivates people? If you ask people what motivates them, they tend to say they want to do things that are interesting to them, that feel relevant to their lives or their goals, that they have choice in. Those are real! But my hypothesis is that those are mostly things that motivate people in the abstract. Sure, they can make a difference. But the biggest motivator is simple: humans like to do things they feel good at, and they don’t like to do things they feel bad at. This isn’t something people say when they’re asked what motivates them because it’s much more visceral and instinctual. We might want to do things that are interesting or relevant — I wanted to work on my summer projects because they felt interesting and relevant. But when I sat down trying to learn some knot theory, then got stuck and couldn’t figure something out, I was likely to give up.

Lots of schools have tried the first approach. They’ve modified the curriculum to tailor to students’ interests. They’ve offered new courses relevant to students’ future career paths. They’ve given students more choice in what they learn. Bluntly, this hasn’t worked very well. Sure, there are occasional wins. Those things can all help at the margins. But from what I see, the major driver of apathy is simple: students feel dumb at school, and they’d rather wander the halls than sit in class and not know what to do. To make things worse, the interests/relevance/choice approach is tons and tons of work for teachers. When teachers put all that work in and it doesn’t move the needle, they feel dispirited and want to give up.

My solution to apathy sounds simple: help students feel good at learning. I’m not always successful with this, but when I think about the students who I’ve had the most trouble with in the last few years, students who are prone to wandering the halls or ignoring me and putting their head down in class, they’re most motivated when they feel good at math. My job is to find lots of little ways to make that happen. Here are a few things I try to do:

• Start each class or activity with a few easier problems to build confidence

• Make time whenever I can to reteach skills from previous years that students need for the current topic

• Provide more time for practice so students feel the confidence boost from getting good at something

• Use constant formative assessment to figure out who is struggling with a topic, and make time to help them out

• Create lots of different ways for students to feel successful in math class — solving problems, noticing something unique, asking a good question, helping a peer

Motivation is Social

Some people reading will say hey, that’s great, but I have plenty of students who have strong skills and still don’t care. How is all that supposed to help with those students?

Fair. But it’s important to remember that motivation is social. Motivation is contagious. Apathy is also contagious. Unfortunately, apathy is more contagious than motivation. I agree, I see more apathy from strong students than I did before. If there are a bunch of kids hanging out in the bathroom instead of coming to math class, it’s tempting to go do that. The pandemic and pandemic-related school disruptions changed that equilibrium. But to me, kids tuning out because they feel dumb in school is a root cause of a lot of apathy. It starts with those students, and spreads from there. There are other causes, sure, it’s complex. But scaffolding and building confidence and addressing gaps in learning are concrete steps teachers can take. Over time we can make gradual progress and move the equilibrium.

The Catch

The catch is that this type of work takes time. There’s no one weird trick that will magically engage students. It’s the slow, patient work of teaching, building students’ skills, highlighting successes, letting them know their teachers are here to help and will do what we can for them to learn. Searching for easy solutions — if we only use math problems about basketball so students see it’s relevant! — we end up in a dead end and demoralize teachers. Building student confidence won’t change anything overnight. But if schools can stop wasting time with gimmicks and quick fixes, it could be the thing that starts to move the needle and get more kids engaged in school.

One final thought. I wrote last week about my first day of school, and doing a bit of practice with fraction multiplication. It’s the type of skill that lots of students forget, but also comes back quickly with a bit of practice. While we were working, one student said half to themselves, “whoa I’m smart suddenly.” That’s what I aim for. I didn’t need to find some over-the-top engaging lesson or convince students that fraction multiplication is relevant to their lives. Successful learning feels good, and builds confidence toward future learning.