A few days ago Mr. O'Connor was talking about the media theory tests that we wrote and He was debating with some students about the reason why many of us did so poorly. Anyways, He said that we should get angry and want to prove him wrong and do well on the next test or project. When I heard him say this I couldn't help wondering why he had used this method as motivation for us to work harder. Is it not obvious that we are a generation that are used to having everything at our fingertips, that we have never had to work hard to get any of your necessities and so really have no concept of what working hard is or what it will get us. From what I have observed we are also a generation that will settle. By this I don't mean we don't strive to have the next best technology because we definitely do that, voraciously. I mean that when people (mostly parents and teachers) imply or blatantly tell us that we can't do something, my observation is that most of us are willing to accept that and respond by not caring in the least. Therefore this means of "motivation" actually back-fires with our generation. We are not, in fact we are drastically different, from our parents generation who could stop wars because they cared enough to protest and demand that things change. They were angry and because of this many issues were addressed and progress occurred. We simply don't care enough to get angry or try harder. Why? I don't know. Maybe it is media and technology that have made us used to getting what we want easily and so if what we want requires some (heaven forbid)...work it must not be worth it. Right?Thursday, 24 May 2012
Motivated Youth?
Motivated Youth?
A few days ago Mr. O'Connor was talking about the media theory tests that we wrote and He was debating with some students about the reason why many of us did so poorly. Anyways, He said that we should get angry and want to prove him wrong and do well on the next test or project. When I heard him say this I couldn't help wondering why he had used this method as motivation for us to work harder. Is it not obvious that we are a generation that are used to having everything at our fingertips, that we have never had to work hard to get any of your necessities and so really have no concept of what working hard is or what it will get us. From what I have observed we are also a generation that will settle. By this I don't mean we don't strive to have the next best technology because we definitely do that, voraciously. I mean that when people (mostly parents and teachers) imply or blatantly tell us that we can't do something, my observation is that most of us are willing to accept that and respond by not caring in the least. Therefore this means of "motivation" actually back-fires with our generation. We are not, in fact we are drastically different, from our parents generation who could stop wars because they cared enough to protest and demand that things change. They were angry and because of this many issues were addressed and progress occurred. We simply don't care enough to get angry or try harder. Why? I don't know. Maybe it is media and technology that have made us used to getting what we want easily and so if what we want requires some (heaven forbid)...work it must not be worth it. Right?
A few days ago Mr. O'Connor was talking about the media theory tests that we wrote and He was debating with some students about the reason why many of us did so poorly. Anyways, He said that we should get angry and want to prove him wrong and do well on the next test or project. When I heard him say this I couldn't help wondering why he had used this method as motivation for us to work harder. Is it not obvious that we are a generation that are used to having everything at our fingertips, that we have never had to work hard to get any of your necessities and so really have no concept of what working hard is or what it will get us. From what I have observed we are also a generation that will settle. By this I don't mean we don't strive to have the next best technology because we definitely do that, voraciously. I mean that when people (mostly parents and teachers) imply or blatantly tell us that we can't do something, my observation is that most of us are willing to accept that and respond by not caring in the least. Therefore this means of "motivation" actually back-fires with our generation. We are not, in fact we are drastically different, from our parents generation who could stop wars because they cared enough to protest and demand that things change. They were angry and because of this many issues were addressed and progress occurred. We simply don't care enough to get angry or try harder. Why? I don't know. Maybe it is media and technology that have made us used to getting what we want easily and so if what we want requires some (heaven forbid)...work it must not be worth it. Right?
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This is a really good point. The only way that this generation or the next generation works for andything is if they are getting something out of it. Marks, candy, etc.
ReplyDeleteI find this to be a really touchy subject. It is so hard to generalize. Many youth are like this, I totally agree. We live in a generation of entitlement, no question about it. Check out this comic link...
ReplyDeletehttp://edit.brocku.ca/webfm_send/1323
So many youth feel like they deserve good grades, deserve a car, deserve to have everything handed to them without having to really work for any of it. That being said though, this does not apply to everyone. Many youth do use past failures as motivation to do better next time, or have to deliver papers every morning to EARN that ipod they want so badly instead of having their parents just hand it to them. I think today though, the fault isn't all with the youth... almost every parent wants their child to have things better than they did... and oftentimes that means handing them things left, right and center. Sometimes it even seems easier to just give in to a request than spending the time and energy instilling in your child work ethic, prioritization and perseverance. We live very chaotic and busy lifestyles, but the easy was out is not always better... sometimes this tendency to give in does much more harm than good! And the youth who have practiced WORKING HARD for what they want more often than not are the ones who come out on top!