Causes of Failure at School

Causes of Failure at School

     "You cannot watch TV now; you have to finissh your schoolwork first!" "If you do not study now, you will fail your Math test." Sound familiar? Every year, countless children hear similar comments from their parents and teachers, who are trying to help them to be succesful. Still, many students fail. As education prepares young people for life, it might be a good idea to consider the causes of failure at school.

     One reason for failure at school is parents' attitudes. Some parents are overambitious. They push their kids to limit, which causes students to hate schoolwork and give it up altogether as a reaction. There are, on the other hand, parents who are indifferent to school. They might for some reason consider education unnecessary and either directly or indirectly discourage their kids from studying. It is also a problem when parents do not set a good example for their kids. Many will tell their kids to study and read, but they will not read much themselves. As human babies learn most by imitating, children from such families may adopt poor studying habits and fail.

     Another reason why students fail is their own attitudes. All people prefer to take it easy whenever they can. Success, however, comes with hard and steady work. Students who opt for "all fun and no work" will definitely fail. Some students, on the other hand, might be slow learners and find it hard to catch up with schoolwork while their classmates are speeding on. This usually causes them to lose courage and interest, which ends up in failure. Some other students might have good intentions and be clever as well, but they might lack discipline. Students who cannot create a schedule that includes both work and leisure and then follow that schedule are also likely to fail.

     Finally, the educational system itself may cause some students to fail. Our present system is based on having many students of different ability in the same classroom. As the curriculum targets the average-ability student, weaker students cannot succeed. Moreover, the students in a class have different interest. The core material that needs to be covered may be very uninteresting for some students, which demotivates them and causes them to fail. Another problem is that the system based on learning through memorization rather than research. Teachers and books provide the required information and students are expected to memorize it. This passive role in the learning process also demotivates students.

     To sum up, factors such as parent and student attitudes, as well as the system itself, cause some students to fail at school. Obviously, the encouraging and threating efforts of parents and teachers are not working. A more rational, up-to-date and motivating system should be developed for the sake of not only the students, but also of our future.

quote:bogazici university, writing booklet-8; spring-2013