Why do so many young people not want to do well at school?

{#Via www.whydo.co.uk}

Lack of interest. - That is the simple answer, the easy answer.

But if we take it deeper and look at why this is the case then maybe we can pinpoint the missing links.

When I was growing up I was taught to love learning, I was encouraged to be curious, to ask questions to explore my environment.

Although I was taught at home, I always saw every morning as an opportunity to learn something new, I loved learning.

In today's society, I don't get the impression that young people enjoy learning, when I work in schools I don't get the feeling that I am in an environment that fosters curiosity. Curiosity is part of the innocence of youth, every child needs to understand their environment and learning is an important part of that.

Somewhere along the line, young people lost their innocence, somewhere along the line they lost their natural curiosity. In order to stop this backward trend we need to go back and identify the glitch that causes young people to go from budding academics to unruly "delinquents".

It is not that young people do not want to do well in school, the difference is they feel restricted to what the schooling system tells them to do, and they want the freedom to explore without being herded into a direction they do not want to go into.

Many pupils are put into categories before they have even reached secondary school; branded "disruptive", "hyperactive" or "aggressive" for basic things as challenging the teachers views. This is discouraging for young people this gives them the impression that this is all they will ever get while in school, "so why bother?"

Again, the change needs to come from the system. Age-old techniques and methodologies that do not acknowledge that young people are gaining knowledge and awareness of topics way beyond their years, are failing young people AND their teachers.

Teachers are only as good as the curriculum and the curriculum is not accepting that 8 year old children already know how to navigate around the internet better than most adults, know how to download a movie from the internet, can use words like "equilibrium".

The educational system needs to become more innovative, more exciting and dynamic. teachers should be able to express themselves freely within the boundaries of a fully fledged educational system. Young people respond to energy and unfortunately, lessons are not like the adverts for teachers on tv, they are morbid, depressing political speeches that automatically trigger "get-out clauses" and "emergency shut down" procedures in young people.

Quite frankly, the system in this country is very prohibitive. If you look across the pond, yeah, have a look at the other side of the fence, in USA, it is questionable whether the educational grass is greener, but it cannot be doubted that they are a much more experimental culture with their education. For instance, Apple sanctioned the release of iPads in schools to help accommodate the inevitable technological integration in education. Or you could look at young concepts such as the Six Thinking Hats of Edward De Bono and Emotional Intelligence of Dan Goleman and see that there are new methodologies that deal with issues the educational system never was acquainted with.

Young people need energy and innovation to rediscover their curiosity, if they do not get it soon, the next generation is doomed to fail.