EDUCATION TODAY

BLOG 1

What are the leading causes of learners' increasing demotivation to learn?

My view:  To address the problems faced by stakeholders of education today, we need to look back at the aim(s) of education and the relevance of the outcomes of today’s education to the learners and community. The aims of education will vary depending on your adopted philosophy of education. However, it is thought that merging this aims to create one which is relevant today and tomorrow will be of great benefits to our communities and will impact learners' motivation positively. To begin, let us look at some definitions of education.

Education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. the act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or skills, as for a profession.

Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body, it develops man’s faculty, especially so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, goodness and beaty (Aristotle)

 Education is a disciplined intervention in human life to avoid wastage. It serves to hasten and guide the natural processes of human mental, psychological and socio-emotional growth (Samson O, 2017).

Looking at these and more, it is evident that education is meant to prepare learners mentally and physically for a fruitful and desired tomorrow. Education has various aims stemming from one or more of the various philosophies of education (essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, behaviorism, constructivism, existentialism etc) which bear some similarities and differences.

In retrospect to these different philosophies, education is aimed at creating people or citizens that; think critically and rationally, are enlightened and experienced to be able to cope with change, develop self-awareness, purpose, and accept responsibilities for their own thoughts, feelings, and actions. These are all needs of learners that must be meet by any means for the leaners to be effective and efficient in the future. Thus, programs are designed with these needs in mind to guide learners in gaining these skills and beliefs.

Despite these, there has been an increase in demotivation in learners towards their learning as far back as the 1940s. The question then is why? Based on my observations and research, this results from one or more of the following:

learners do not have personal aims and objectives to guide them through school, schools are more focused on the results of public exams than the skills acquired by learners,

Parents, some teachers, and guardians do not understand the aim of education as a whole hence, are unable to meet the need of guiding learners through identifying and documenting their aim(s) for being educated,

Educators lack proper motivation to meet learners' needs ( in the case of most third world countries)  which tends to reflect in  the leaners,

Control over learners choices of what to study by external parties,

Limitations at the level of education policy maker, just to name a few.

The solutions to these problems will vary from community to community. However, there will be a general trend in the various solutions provided by respective communities. Generally, the younger generation needs to know the aim of education and various educational systems, the impact of each system on the learners, their immediate community, and the world at large. They also should have a goal in mind to guide every choice they make and to serve as a measuring tool for the various outcomes of the various choices they make.

Share your thoughts on this subject through any of the media outlets so that, together, we can identify the source of the declining performances by learners and build communities of engaged and motivated learners 😊.

BLOG 2

What actions can schools, and stakeholders of education take to increase the motivation of learners? What are the possible outcomes of these actions over short and long periods of time on the learners and the community as a whole?

My view: In line with the aim of educations discussed in the previous blog, we discussed some of the causes of learners’ increasing demotivation over time and some of the possible actions various stakeholders of education could take to increase learners’ motivation. I will love to treat the input required by each stakeholder separately starting from parents to the community, the employers, policy makers school systems and educators.

PARENTS. Learning and other educational processes start as early as humans and other creatures enter this world. Thus, the very first teachers a child encounters are his or her parents, guardians, and every other person they interact with immediately after birth. Therefore, those with whom the child grows have a key role to play in the child’s beliefs and knowledge, behavior, and conduct. These are all traits that influences the child’s future and upon these, the child builds new belief.  As explained by Jean Piaget, during child development (preoperational and concrete operational stages of development, ages 2 to 7 and 7 to 11 respectively) children develop symbolic thinking and progressively develop logical reasoning. During such a stage external stimulus plays a great role in modifying believes and behavior. Piaget implied that a community that encourages debate, discussions and exposure to diverse perspectives can foster cognitive growth. Thus, it is important for parents to expose children to diverse perspectives and encourage them to explore and engage in educative discussions. Moreso, I recommend that parents take an optimistic approach when sharing life experiences with children because there is a chance of children adopting parents’ views and values in which case, if pessimistic, becomes detrimental to further learning. This will be reinforced by challenges encountered during future learning. For example, a parent who expresses and emphasizes hatred for math, and assumes the subject to be difficult during an exchange with or in the presence of a learners who also face difficulties in math may indirectly reinforce the belief that math is difficult and in instances where this learner faces challenges, they are most likely to convince themselves based on the stimuli. This limits the learner’s ability to persist during difficulties.

Furthermore, planning will become an integral part of the learner’s beliefs if the learner is exposed to this aspect during these operational changes. At this stage conditioning can be a tool to design a path of success or failure.

Over assisting learners deprives learners of the opportunity to explore and make meaning out of their environment and experiences. This inhibits cognitive development (a challenge that transcends the home).

 Belittling of people of lower social class (teachers included) in the presence of children renders everyone perceived to be of this class by the children to lack certain values thus clouding children’s judgement of people’s actions and limits the diversity in their learning experience. This effects ripples into the classroom and accounts partly for misconduct and disrespect experienced by peers and teachers.

SOLUTIONS: I suggest that parents should actively participate in shaping the lives of learners especially at the preoperational and concrete operational stages by giving the opportunity to explore their environment, different perspectives and should guide and support them in making  planning a part of their daily activities, take an optimistic standpoint when engaged in discussions with children and should encourage children to treat everyone with equal respect and to show respect for the environment.

Intimidation and propagandizing should be avoided. Rather, the rationality of children should be respected, and the aims and objectives of various activities should be agreed with the children rather than imposed on them (Smith O and Sheffler). This (past experiences, their hopes, their desires and chief interest) also serves as a starting point for educators to build new knowledge and skills.

Them aims and objectives of activities the children are engaged in should be communicated with them and a reasonable conclusion arrived at to be shared with those involved. This creates clarity in every activity they engaged in and builds on the skill and necessity of planning, gives room, and promotes strong critical and rational thinking.

SHORT TERM BENEFITS.

Actively participating in the lives of children as parents contributes to the children cognitive development, motivation, and confidence. This immediately decreases the possible challenges the child could have as concerns their behavior, motivation, and educations.

LONG TERM BENEFITS

 In the long run, children with defined goals, appropriate parental support and coaching become, conscious, intentional, empathetic, reflective, and responsible citizens who respect the choices and rationality of others, who are goal and purpose driven. Furthermore, this could result in a possible shift in Childrens’ motivation and attention from less productive activities to intentional and preplanned, beneficial activities by focusing their attention on premeditated actions rather than being persuaded and influenced by peers against their goals.