In every inspiring movie, there is always a coach, a teacher, or some other adult figure who motivates a struggling student because they see something in them that no one else does. That struggling student, who is usually a poor inner-city minority, goes on to become a superstar athlete or a multimillionaire genius. I have a lot in common with those stereotypical students, except I didn’t have an overly motivational coach or teacher that checked on me every step of the way. I had pressure and dependence.
Being the oldest in a family of three siblings, one mother, one stepfather, and one grandmother all living in a three-bedroom home it became clear from an early age that if I wanted to help my family I was going to need to do more than get my high school education. Although my mother never told me directly that it was my job to take care of the family it was just learned over time. When I was 10 years old, I had been watching my siblings throughout the week as my mother juggled two jobs in order to pay rent in our small, violence-filled apartment complex. By the time I was 12, I had learned
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I played outside less, studied inside more, there was less of a search for jobs, and more of a search for colleges. Nearly everything I held great interest in was taken under revision. I enrolled in dual-enrollment courses, AP classes, more volunteer activities, and increased the amount of challenging coursework that I was taking. All that I could picture was high school graduation and getting my first acceptance letter. Those activities that I found to be tedious inconveniences lead me to a bright path, a better path. However, I won’t forget where I came from. Just like those kids in the movies, I am a poor, inner-city, struggling student, but that does not define me, it just gave me a push towards a better life. Our struggle lead me to the start of the race towards greatness, and I can not wait to reach the finish
My mother was always stuck watching and taking care of her younger siblings. Sometimes she would get in trouble for not making sure they stayed out of trouble. Not having her own privacy was common for her, since they lived in a...
Students encounter many complications during their school career. Some students are smart, but just don’t apply themselves, or have similar hardships that are going on in their lives. These can be fixed if one can find motivation and confidence. In the story “Zero,” Paul Logan coasts through high school and college. Logan doesn’t know the tools to succeed in school, which causes his grades to fall. In the story “The Jacket,” Gary Soto explains how the way one dresses can influences how they feel about themself. Which in this case he gets an ugly jacket; which causes him to be depressed and his grades to fall. Albeit Logan and Soto went through similar hardships, they both succeed with motivation and confidence.
I was raised in an encouraging household where both of my parents greatly valued education. Although they were high school graduates, neither could afford to attend college; a combination of family and financial woes ultimately halted their path. As a result, my parents frequently reminded me that getting a good education meant better opportunities for my future. To my parents, that seemed to be the overarching goal: a better life for me than the one they had. My parents wanted me to excel and supported me financially and emotionally of which the former was something their parents were not able to provide. Their desire to facilitate a change in my destiny is one of many essential events that contributed to my world view.
Teaching children motivational skills and good learning techniques at a very young age can have a massive positive impact on how successful those children would be in their future. In the nonfiction article Kewauna’s Ambition, the author explains that her success came from her own self motivation, and the help from an organization that helps troubled kids. The author states “what was most remarkable to me about kewauna was that she was able to marshal her prodigious non cognitive capacity - call it grit, conscientiousness, resilience, or the ability to delay gratification.” (Tough, 2015). He relates the experience and resilience of Kewauna to other teenagers who share the same experience. Many also believe that motivation and willingness to learn is taught by parents, teachers, and peers. The success of students does not solely depend on the school 's ability to provide programs and help, but the ambition of the student alone. In contrast, those methods of teaching skills at a young age don’t always have a lasting effect on the children throughout their entire academic career. At a young age, students may have that extreme motivation of never failing throughout their life and when they get older, that desire to keep succeeding is gone. The overconfidence of possessing high learning abilities could affect the students negatively as they grow older.
Regretfully, when I entered high school I did not realize how hard I had to work to get what I wanted. I went to my classes, did my work, but never really pushed myself to my full abilities. I thought that as long as I graduated with decent grades I would be able to get into college and really focus then. But as high school quickly came to an end I realized that I was not as well prepared for college, as I would have liked.
The pressure of students hearing “Your parents must be proud” brings students to an expectation that they can not fail or those people will not see them the same. People do not tend to remember all the success that a student has achieved even if they only make one mistake. Students do not want people to see their flaws and imperfections but only the success because then this will be all people have to judge them by. A “scholarship boy” may have worked harder than other students still feeling that even though they were “always successful, [they can be] always unconfident” because they happen to be the prized student with so many expectations (339). Today many college students receive scholarships and grants offered to students making it so competitive for anyone to receive any type of financial aid for school; when a student does receive financial aid they feel as if the only way that they can keep the financial help would be to suppress their social life only fixating on school work. The competition for scholarships and grants will continue to become harder and harder to receive because not only will there be more and more people trying to get into schools each year but the expectation continues to rise for these financial aid options. This will continue the pressure and social suppression for “scholarship
As I started to advance into my high school education, I noticed that my attitude about school and grades was not going to get me anywhere. I went to school and goofed off with my friends and did enough work to get a decent 70 on my work and go home. I had no “active responsibility”, as Freire would say, because I didn’t have anything to motivate me to want to do well. It all changed when I started high school at Bear Grass Charter School. Bear Grass had just reopened as a charter school my freshman year. I was a new beginning for me because not only was I starting out at a new school, but I started to realize that I needed to improve my self-effort in my classes. I knew that I wanted to be a nurse when I graduated and I
As a child my parents worried about my educational development. They didn’t know if I was going to be able to keep up with the other children. I was in the third grade and didn’t know any English. I struggled academically my remaining elementary years to catch up to the other children, but it wasn’t long until I exceeded my peers in middle school.
I had a difficult time learning in school. I became a few years behind my grade level and my parents considered having me repeat a grade. My learning support teacher worked with me one on one for months and taught me how to study and work hard. I continued working hard and started getting better grades, and soon I became top of my class. I kept studying and strived to get the best possible grades throughout middle school and high school. I looked to challenge myself and took advanced placement classes. I don’t think I would have worked hard in high school, if I had not struggled earlier on, I would most likely be on a completely different life
Being the oldest of seven, my mom had the responsibility of caring and looking after her siblings. Growing up her mom had left them at a very young age and did not come back for a while. She had to act as a parent to her siblings and also work to help her dad be a single parent to seven kids. They did not get to go on family vacations, camps, or even have a lot of free time to do what they wanted. The only time she could feel free and be like a kid was when she went to school.
When I was 11 I watched my mother abruptly become a single parent responsible for four daughters, two of which were still in diapers. I became the full time babysitter and raised my two younger sisters for years, despite being a child myself, while my mom worked several jobs at a time.
As I was speaking with my practicum teacher we discussed more in depth how gifted children can be underachievers if they are not challenged but can go the same way with typical students who are pressured or overwhelmed. Also, how underachievement can be factored by their home living depending if they are in a negative environment. Mrs. Thomas and I believed that students learn best when they feel safe, have a goodnight sleep, and food on their plate. These essentials are crucial in order for students be underachievers. Motivations comes from parents and teachers because they set up the environment for learning so if there is enthusiasm then students will receive that vibe as well in the
First off, the college life has changed me for the better. I am much more responsible in many different ways. I had to change my study habits, or should I say I have to get study habits. I high school I never studied, because everything came so easy to me and I could just do the work and end up with passing grades. When I reached college I tried to do the same thing and it didn’t work. I had to start studying on a daily basis and it was hard to go from not doing any work to studying every night and on the weekends, I wasn’t use to that, but I had to make it a habit or I was not going to make it. Going to school everyday was not a problem because my parents made me go everyday, my major change was my study habits.
My mother was taking care of me, and my three other siblings all alone by herself. When my father was living my mother only had one job, but now she had to work more. She had a massive impact on our lives by making sure we had everything we needed. Because I was the oldest of my siblings, I felt like I was a parent. At just eight years old, I had to skip school just to make sure my siblings had someone to look after them while my mother worked. I was obligated to feed them, give them baths, and put clothes on them. It was very difficult, but I knew my mother had to pay bills, and take care of us and herself, so I knew she couldn’t afford a babysitter. When times got very tough, my mom would get stressed out and take it out on us by throwing tantrums, hollering at us and beating on us. I didn’t have a choice but to encourage my mother, and be the one to push her to not give
We were responsible for managing our homework and schedules. We were not nagged into studying, and did not rely on their reminders to do our work. This was not a burden for me, but a freedom. They encouraged us to put every effort we could into our work, but if we didn’t we were the ones who would bear the consequences. We were punished for never “encouraged” to do well with money or treats. My mother and father emphasized the personal responsibility and consequences of education, instead of using material items as incentives. Because I felt responsible for my education, I wanted to do the best possible. I knew my efforts in school reflected on me personally, and I wanted to do well. I knew that if I could not get A’s in my classes because of a difficulty understanding or learning material, or for other similar reasons, it was fine, but if I only did not get A’s because I did not put effort into my work, it was my fault, my responsibility, and my regret I had to deal with. This understanding and outlook has helped me to do well in school, and motivated me to be a determined, hardworking