The Motivation Problem in American High Schools

American high school students devote much less time and energy to their studies than the students of other nations. The cause of the lack of motivation is the lack of rewards for studying hard and for taking rigorous courses. This occurs for four reasons. First, the u.S. economy fails to give academic achievement its due reward in the labor market and rewards instead credentials that signify time spent, rather than competencies acquired. In most other countries credentials are more closely related to competencies obtained, so school achievement is a more important determinants of prestige and income as an adult than they are in the u.s. The second cause is the zero sum nature of academic competition and resulting peer pressure against studying hard. The most important signals of one's achievement--rank in class and GPA--are indicators of one's ranking relative to close friends not measures of performance on an absolute scale in the way a scout merit badge is. Since studying hard makes things worse for friends, the peer group pressures everyone to take it easy. The third reason is the almost total absence of school sponsored recognition of the academic achievements of students who are not at the very top of their class. Most students learn very early that they have no realistic chance of getting one of these prizes and their reaction is often to denigrate both the reward and the achievement it honors and to honor instead other forms of achievement --ego athletics, being cool, being popular--which offer them better chances of success. The fourth reason is the admissions criteria of the nation's better colleges and universities. In the United States these decisions are based almost entirely on (a) scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, a test which does not assess achievement in the science, history and math courses taken in high school and (b) high school class rank and GPA, a criterion that generates zero sum competition among classmates. In Japan and most of Europe, admission to the better universities and into the most selective programs of study are based largely on the student's performance on a battery of achievement exams taken at the end of secondary school (eg. "A" levels in the UK and the Baccalaureate in France). The paper conclude with a discussion of a variety of reforms that will strengthen incentives to study and generate parental pressure on local school administrators for higher standards and better teaching. 9/'/88 THE MOTIVATION PROBLEM IN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS "All too often docile, COIIpliant, and without initiative. " This is how Theodore Sizer (1984) characterized ftmerican high school students at the end of his massive two year study of high schools. John Goodlad also concluded: "The extraordinary degree of student passivity stands out" (1984). When teachers are asked what they feel are the most important problems in education, more than 40% respond, "lack of interest by students". Studies of time use and time on task in high school show that students actively engage in a learning activity for only about half the time they are scheduled to be in school. Absence rates of 15 percent or more are common. Even when students are in class, the teacher and/or students are on task only part of the time. A study of high schools in Chicago found that public schools with high-achieving students averaged about 75 percent of class time for actual instruction; for schools with low achieving students, the average was 51 percent of class time (Frederick 1977). OVerall, 46.5 percent of the potential learning time was lost due to absence, lateness, and inattention (Frederick 1979). other studies have found that for reading and math instruction the average engagement rate is about 75 percent (Fischer et al., 1978; Klein, Tyle, and Wright 1979; Goodlad 1983). For vocational classes it is about 56 percent (Halasz and Behrn 1983). When absences, nonclass time, and nonengaged class time are combined, less than half of the scheduled time at school is used for learning. In 1980, high school students spent an average of 3.5 hours per week on homework. When homework is added to engaged time at school, the total time devoted to study, instruction, and practice is only 18-22 hours per week -between 15 and 20 percent of the student's waking hours during the school year. By way of comparison, the typical senior spent 10 hours per week in a part-time job and about 25 hours per week watching television. occupies as much of an American adolescents time as learning. Thus, TV Students in other nations spend much less time glued to the tube. Austrian students watch 68 percent less, Swiss students watch 60 percent less, and Canadian students watch 44 percent less. (OECD, Table 18.1, 1986) The lack of student interest makes it difficult for teachers to be demanding. As Theodore Sizer has observed, "A lot of the honors students