Final Milestone
Final Milestone 
The need for education in our current world is of very great importance as it enables an individual to be able to relate and understand the happenings around them. The need for academic success has become a need in our current world that it has led to people developing several theories that will help to increase the academic success of most students which as many say will shape a way forward for the students (Bandura & Schunk, 1981, pp.589). Recently, it has been observed that many students especially those in high schools are having problems with their academics leading to some students not graduating and others dropping out of school. This has been linked to the lack of motivation that these students need in order to be successful academically (Tileston, 2004).
In the education system, the teachers are encouraged to motivate their students as this proves to be effective as students are observed to perform well when motivated. Different teachers have different ways of motivating their students. As a form of motivation for us students my teachers used to ensure that there were enough resources available to be used during the lessons and the availability of resources such as enough books to read from. This motivated me as a student to study even during my leisure times as I had resources in my disposal.
In addition, I was motivated to study in high school because our teachers would involve us in class activities during lessons and even after school hours. Activities such as reading a literature book in class by different students enabled me to be able to get to understand my studies more. Asking of questions and also doing sums in front of the class motivated me even more to study as I did not want to perform poorly when called upon to do something or even answer a question.
Another motivating factor for me in my high school years was the desire to fulfill and achieve my dreams. This motivated me to study to be successful as I knew the only way to be the best in what I dream of was to work hard in school as education was my only way to success.
Needless to say, competition was another motivating factor in my completion and success in high school as I worked really hard to maintain my grades as I had set and that was never to get any subject below a B. The need to have a better and improved life compared to my parents and also to ensure that my future and my children were secured motivated me to complete my high school successfully and also wanting to join an institution of higher learning was a motivating factor. With such targets in mind and also the other motivating factors mentioned above, they propelled me to work hard to be successful in my high school studies and this ensured I completed my high school.
Though motivation by teachers and my dreams played a major role in ensuring that I completed my high school successfully, there were also de- motivating factors which made me feel like wanting to give up. The much emphasis put on academic work rather than balancing between studies and co-curricular activities was de- motivating for me because activities such as sports were not considered important and therefore there was no recognition when it came to sports. Being a sportsman, the lack of recognition and effort in sporting activities de- motivated me.
The changing of teachers was also a de- motivating factor because it meant having to start getting used to someone different and these at times was challenging because I was used to certain teachers. Also, the many assignments given were de-motivating when they failed to be checked by the teachers who had given out assignments as one saw no need to do assignment that will be unchecked.
With today’s high school students, there are several factors that may turn them to be either successful or unsuccessful people. Self-belief will ensure success as it gives a student confidence in his/her ability to understand or to do well in their academics and perform excellently in their abilities. The lack of this confidence in one’s self makes a student perform poor as they find it hard to solve problems and even participate in other activities and therefore not enjoying school thus resulting into unsuccessfulness ( Martin, 2003, pp. 25).
Career development is important in ensuring successful students (Patterson, 2008). This is so because when students are well informed on the various fields available and the requirements to be met for the fields, they work hard so as to attain the targets needed thus producing successful students. The lack of proper career guidance gives student no reason to work hard therefore this can result in unsuccessful students.
Parental support is very crucial in a student’s achievements. Positive parental support has been observed to result into successful students because they feel motivated to work hard to make their parents proud of their achievements. Also, a parent’s support will ensure a child enjoys his/her abilities as they know the parents will see them through. Negative parental support makes a high school student to feel de- motivated which may lead to an unsuccessful student because the parents do not approve of what he/she is pursuing (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996 ). Some parents even force their children in high schools to take subjects they do not want. With such negative influence, most high school students turn out to be unsuccessful in their academics and other co- curricular activities. Other factors may include teacher’s involvement in the students’ activities, the peer group of the student which has been observed to be very crucial in determining a high school student’s performance in school.
Motivating high school students to be successful is very important. Some ways in which these students can be motivated include increasing the importance on personal bests as students want to achieve higher performance than their previous (Sakai, 2007, pp. 16). This ensures personal excellence. In addition, reducing comparisons with other students enables a student to focus on their own standards and personal bests as this enables one to set them as the benchmark and it is important to ensure success (Martin, 2003).
Making students to value school in that they believe what they gain in school is useful, important and relevant to them and the rest is another form of motivation (Tileston, 2004). A student who values school is mostly seen to be interested in what they are learning or doing and in turn making them enjoy school which results in a successful student. Other factors to motivate these high school students include using cooperative learning methods such as placing students in groups to handle a problem, improve on the lessons plan by focusing on the subject matter, awarding students for their efforts, encouraging students to show their talents and use them to succeed and being enthusiastic about the subject or activity you are teaching as this will motivate the students to participate more as they can observe your enthusiasm (Sakai, 2007, pp.12).
In conclusion, the best way to produce successful high school students is through motivation using methods such as rewarding efforts, encouraging their talents and also ensuring their total participation in class or co-curricular activities.
