On January 9th, 2024, a new quarter and semester and started for the school year. So far it has been a tragic start for many of the high school students in the first couple weeks. Motivation in these students has been diminishing. Students are talking about how much they don’t care anymore and that they want school to be done. This is having a major impact on these students' academic marks. Grades are currently looking horrendous for much of the student body.
Grades drastically dropping is partly due to it being a fresh semester - grades shift more easily with every bad mark on assignments because there are fewer in the grade book. The last two weeks have been particularly rough. Students are both stressed out and struggling to care about their grades. With this, an unusually high number of students are failing classes.
Jeffry Alsup, a high-achieving junior, states, “I have no motivation and I feel like I want to give up, drop out of school, and become a homeless person. The school does a poor job at motivating students.” This is a strong example of the lack of motivation the student body is feeling.
Autumn Jennings, a sophomore, stated, “It’s rough, I feel like a lot’s changed and it’s stressful.”
Classmate Janafer Kaltenekker also added that her motivation has been “less than last year.”
Marissa Neumann, an honor roll student, commented, “My motivation is gone and I don’t care anymore.” This shows that even academically strong students are feeling the loss of intrinsic motivation.
At the start of the second semester, it looked like it was the challenge of re-adjusting back to school after winter break, but now it doesn’t seem like that's the case as there is little improvement happening, even three weeks back at school. Students are still slacking and struggling to care. For students who are currently experiencing the quarter three slumps, ways to get your academic marks up include setting up homework time with designated breaks, setting academic goals, and tracking all academic progress made in the classroom.