Homework/Study Motivation

[Meow]

Yes, how you do in high school directly correlates to not only how well you'll do in life (which there's no barometer for anyway), but will epitomise who you are as a person and you're worth. Psh. Right...

You will be okay. The uni system is all myth and bullshit and driven by finances. High school teachers will tell you how hard you need to work, their self-anointed great work habits, and how you'll end up a loser because you hated Economics: but remember that they're pissing away their lives exercising their ego on kids. And that the school system is heavily tilted in a shit direction.

Do your work and try hard with the subjects you like. The ATAR system will be harsh to you if you hate maths and sciences. But if you're passionate about one subject and pretty good at a second other, you should be able to accentuate your skills in those. Go hard in those ones. Tread water with the subjects you find a chore and just try and get over the line. You'll be alright.

It isn't necessarily the be-all and end-all, but the effort you put in during high school says a lot about your character and the way you tackle challenges.

Big generalisation you've made about teachers as well. A large % of the teachers I used to work with were very hardworking people who are genuinely dedicated to their job.

 

[iDon]

Yes, how you do in high school directly correlates to not only how well you'll do in life (which there's no barometer for anyway), but will epitomise who you are as a person and you're worth. Psh. Right...

You will be okay. The uni system is all myth and bullshit and driven by finances. High school teachers will tell you how hard you need to work, their self-anointed great work habits, and how you'll end up a loser because you hated Economics: but remember that they're pissing away their lives exercising their ego on kids. And that the school system is heavily tilted in a shit direction.

Do your work and try hard with the subjects you like. The ATAR system will be harsh to you if you hate maths and sciences. But if you're passionate about one subject and pretty good at a second other, you should be able to accentuate your skills in those. Go hard in those ones. Tread water with the subjects you find a chore and just try and get over the line. You'll be alright.

As a teacher, you are one student that I wish the cane/ruler was still in force.

 

[Meow]

I'd rather go and play basketball or have fun.

I'm also quite unsure of what I want to do. My dream involves sports but in reality I'll be looking at going to uni and getting a job like most others.

Make a timetable and strike a good balance between leisure/study time. Doing that and sticking to it will really help motivate you. Takes some self-discipline though which you can get by setting yourself some academic objectives.

Also, if you're good at sports and are genuinely interested in them then why not pursue a sporting career in some form at uni?

 

[Silent Alarm]

Jeezus SA why so cynical?

Cynicism breeds hedonism, rather than anything completely negative. I don't really think it's a bad trait. I'm not a glum person and it's made my life way more enjoyable. Just because the world is myth and bullshit, it doesn't mean it's worthless or flawed. You can still have fun, but I can guarantee that you could pay your wya into any uni in Australia.

This is pretty much it. The system is so heavily skewed towards maths students it's ridiculous. I had friends doing the arts/humanities types subjects who were incredibly smart, worked really hard but didn't really stand a chance of doing really well due to just how hard it is to ace those subjects.

Do what you like and if you enjoy it then studying will be easy

It's not just hard to ace the subjects, but it's... in WA at least, they're really doctored. Maths are helped out, but English is pushed back.

You get most of the Arts subjects scaled down. If you get an 80, it'll probably go down to a 60. But if you're doing Maths Specialist, struggling at 50 will end up being scaled up to 75. It's absolutely flawed. But I don't think there's a more useless, politicised, and ultimately clueless organisation than the WA Education Board. At least the AFL are actually succeeding in what they want to do.

I was in the top 15 English students in WA in 2011.

My ATAR was worse than my mates who did maths/sciences and got 50s in every single subject.

Now... I only ever wanted to do an English-based course at uni. Yet I'm less desirable and equipped for my degree than someone who struggled?

The ATAR system genuinely killed the brightest person I know. The dude was naturally curious. He didn't do a lot of homework because he wasn't interested in 1950s history, but ancient or early Australian history. And he wasn't skipping a study load to get pissed or sit around on the internet, but to read for 11 hours on something as valid and 'educational.' How can someone like that, who's dad and six siblings are all respected lawyers, be in limbo for two years and have no real concrete sights for university?

The system is appalling and those pricks have gotten away with it.

Everyone builds up school to me this massive thing, teachers, friends and most importantly your parents. But at the end of the day it's nothing, I can think of countless examples of people have done poorly at school yet excelled at uni. Some people naturally suit the schooling environment - yet when they get to uni they have no work ethic and motivation and ultimately end up doing poorly. Academically the most successful person I know is one who apparently failed high school english, didn't do TEE and was regarded by most teachers as a sped, today his well on his way to being an english teacher and is excelling in his double degree.

The worst thing about the education system is that it disenfranchises those who do poorly at school, they are categorised as dumb and are generally looked down upon by the supposed 'smart' kids and as a result a large portion develop this mentality that they will amount to nothing. Afew years after HS you look at these 'dumb' kids and you realise they were actually quite smart and the education system was holding them back or they get into drugs and live a troubled youth, conversely you realise these 'smart' kids who were put up on a pedestal at high school really haven't lived up to all the hype.

Absolutely.

The high school system creates a false dichotomy: smart and dumb. Don't like studying? Okay, we'll nudge you toward the woodwork rooms and an apprenticeship. And, y'know, people aren't simple enough for that to work. I can imagine how confidence killing it can be for a young person who's constantly berated for not liking a particular subject.

Me and my best mate at school were so nudged toward English and the Arts. But of course, you can't fill up all of your four/five subjects with that. We had to do Economics and it was the worst. I just hated it. So did he. No passion, no impetus, no desire. And it was absolutely exacerbated by the teacher. He came in, saw we just didn't get it, and gave us no direction. Now, I'm not saying he should've forfeited the other 15 people in the class for us, but when we'd ask for help he just gave us half-arsed attention. And we were pretty quiet, respectable kids who turned up every day and weren't throwing paper planes around the class (but then again, what year 12s aren't like that?).

When you have a teacher giving you no chance, what are you supposed to do? When they write you off in favour or celebrating the sycophants, it is so disheartening. heck that.
A common trait of teachers is to assume that one poor subject means that you're generally poor at school in general.

And I've been at the good end of it. English teachers have liked what I've done. And my friends who were into other things weren't given half the attention. It made me embarrassed and feel like an absolute arseh*le.

Teachers might be passionate about their job, but they tend to forget the bloke in the back corner who's at the pivotal stage in life. But teachers would sooner prop up the kids who have always been propped up, rather than the ones who actually need it. Sure, my dislike is circumstantial, but it's a bit like people who have only ever gotten flogged by police officers.

They have single handedly ruined a few lives – even just at my irrelevant school.

 

[Cruyff14]

Good post.

 

[Sanders]

Cynicism breeds hedonism, rather than anything completely negative.

What a load of self indulgent toss

I was in the top 15 English students in WA in 2011.

Proof? Source?

 

[JD11]

I dont buy the disadvantadge against arts. I got an 88 entirely from being in the top few percent of drama and theatre studies with a moderate english score. Furthermore, any fine arts course worth doing takes no regard of your score and looks solely at your practical work in the field.

The real bias in high school is cohort scaling against kids from low socio economic backgrounds.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I dont buy the disadvantadge against arts. I got an 88 entirely from being in the top few percent of drama and theatre studies with a moderate english score. Furthermore, any fine arts course worth doing takes no regard of your score and looks solely at your practical work in the field.

The real bias in high school is cohort scaling against kids from low socio economic backgrounds.

But you don't have to be in the top few percent to get as good/better in Maths. If you get in the top few percent for two Science subjects and do moderately (60-70) in your other two, then you'll probably end up with an ATAR of about 90. If you do that with Arts, you'll be sitting on 75-85.

I went to a public school, but a pretty good one in terms of reputation and aggregate ATARs, but was still pretty much flogged because of it.

I don't actually care a whole lot now. In fact I never think about it. Once you're in uni, you're in. But the system is flawed and gets nowhere near attention because of it.

 

[JD11]

Because theres more people who are good at maths.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

I'm also struggling with motivation for uni work. My degree is such a joke that I really can get by without doing anything at all for 11 of the 12 weeks of the semester and then doing a week of work for a distinction. What really annoys me is how little the university actually does for the thousands of dollars they're sucking from me every year. This semester I have to complete a major project worth three classes of credit, yet the uni has absolutely no involvement project in this other than giving me a pass or fail at the end of the 12 weeks. Then I have to find my own internship for the second semester, and there's my three-year degree finished. Without learning a thing.

Thankfully I didn't waste my time studying in VCE. I had a great time turning up 2 or 3 days a week while gigging regularly with my bands. Passed everything and got a mid-60s ATAR, got into the degree that sounded so good on paper but is a load of shit in reality. Meanwhile most of my friends who did sacrifice their social lives and had a horrid time in VCE have dropped out/switched uni courses because they hated what they worked so hard to get into. I can't wait to get out of the education system, though I figure I might as well finish this pathetic degree so I'm "a university graduate!"

 

[Meow]

I'm also struggling with motivation for uni work. My degree is such a joke that I really can get by without doing anything at all for 11 of the 12 weeks of the semester and then doing a week of work for a distinction. What really annoys me is how little the university actually does for the thousands of dollars they're sucking from me every year. This semester I have to complete a major project worth three classes of credit, yet the uni has absolutely no involvement project in this other than giving me a pass or fail at the end of the 12 weeks. Then I have to find my own internship for the second semester, and there's my three-year degree finished. Without learning a thing.

Thankfully I didn't waste my time studying in VCE. I had a great time turning up 2 or 3 days a week while gigging regularly with my bands. Passed everything and got a mid-60s ATAR, got into the degree that sounded so good on paper but is a load of shit in reality. Meanwhile most of my friends who did sacrifice their social lives and had a horrid time in VCE have dropped out/switched uni courses because they hated what they worked so hard to get into. I can't wait to get out of the education system, though I figure I might as well finish this pathetic degree so I'm "a university graduate!"

That's uni for you in a nutshell. Don't expect your lecturers there to spoon-feed you like teachers do during VCE. Once you're there you are pretty much solely responsible for your own learning.

Self-discipline will get you a very long way in being motivated, and the best way to do that is by getting into good habits and setting yourself some goals regardless of how mundane you think the work is. If all else fails and you still don't enjoy the degree you're doing then changing courses is obviously a good idea.

Some people love uni and others hate it. I found uni so much better than Years 11-12 (or form 5-6 back when I was at school) in that I actually had some control over my own learning and the stuff I wanted to do. Had so much more flexibility at uni, found the curriculum there to be far more open and less restrictive than upper high school.

Of course lots of people who get a high ATAR score struggle with uni, and vice versa. The learning environments VCE and uni provide are quite mutually exclusive.

 

[J_Moore]

ITT: Definitive life advice from 19 year olds about stages of life they're in the middle of.


Anyway, nbaman, I'd try and find a way to force yourself to do the work. How, I don't know, because I struggle with that pretty heavily. But I think for most people, a good work ethic is largely a habit rather than an actual drive, and if you fall out of it (as I did after school for a fair few years), it can be very difficult to get back into.

High school is by no means the end of the world, but you may as well do as well as you can, to give yourself as many options as possible. I think life's a lot more pleasant when you've got choices.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

That's uni for you in a nutshell. Don't expect your lecturers there to spoon-feed you like teachers do during VCE. Once you're there you are pretty much solely responsible for your own learning.

Self-discipline will get you a very long way in being motivated, and the best way to do that is by getting into good habits and setting yourself some goals regardless of how mundane you think the work is. If all else fails and you still don't enjoy the degree you're doing then changing courses is obviously a good idea.

I appreciate that university lecturers/tutors aren't there to do the same job that a VCE teacher would, but I have encountered so many utterly disinterested, unorganised and incompetent teachers at uni that really makes me annoyed at the amount of money I'm pouring into my course. I've had three excellent uni teachers and about ten useless ones, unfortunately the people in charge of my course fall into the latter category. Three subjects I've done (all electives) have been professionally ran, engaging, challenging subjects in which I have actually learnt a few things. But the other fifteen have been utterly useless. For one subject last year I attended two classes out of twelve (left half way through both), did 20 minutes of work the night before the course assessment was due and got a high distinction.

I know uni teachers aren't there to hold your hand and remind you every day about all the work you have to do, but they could at least give some thought to how to provide a decent class and help students with the resources available. Instead we are at the mercy of the wildly swinging moods of arrogant academics who are more interested in squabbling with each other than giving a decent experience to the students.

With all that said, I don't regret doing my course. It's given me a chance to move away from home, live in Melbourne and learn many life lessons while getting paid by the government to do a joke of a degree that requires maybe a few hours of homework every 6 weeks. I've learnt plenty over the past few years, but uni has had nothing to do with that.

 

[J_Moore]

yeah, teaching standards can be pretty dire in Australian unis. In something like an Arts degree, you often effectively get feedback about 3 times per semester, and regularly only have one major piece of writing to complete. There's not really much of an opportunity to develop your writing style, research skills or expertise in that sort of a system. Imagine a similar regime in being applied to, say a sports team?

A decent overseas uni will see you in a tutorial with a reasonably well-qualified academic (often the lecturer, because classes are smaller), and you'll be required to submit regular work that you then discuss in some detail with your tutor.

I reckon there's some merit to the arguments that teaching and research unis should be separated, though I can understand the arguments against that, too.

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Do understand the frustration about Uni.

There are some lecturers/tutors that are so horrid, they end up turning you against the subject matter. Has happened to me, one unit last semester in-fact.

Got a good 4 years to go myself - better get used to it!

 

[smiths]

 

[checkraiseulite]

The ATAR system genuinely killed the brightest person I know. The dude was naturally curious. He didn't do a lot of homework because he wasn't interested in 1950s history, but ancient or early Australian history. And he wasn't skipping a study load to get pissed or sit around on the internet, but to read for 11 hours on something as valid and 'educational.' How can someone like that, who's dad and six siblings are all respected lawyers, be in limbo for two years and have no real concrete sights for university?

THis person is obv not very bright.

You will never get anywhere in the world if you cannot suffer through things that you don't like/aren't interested in.

 

[Scotland]

THis person is obv not very bright.

You will never get anywhere in the world if you cannot suffer through things that you don't like/aren't interested in.

You're talking to most people born after about 1985 right there.

 

[Richard Cranium]

The ATAR system genuinely killed the brightest person I know. The dude was naturally curious. He didn't do a lot of homework because he wasn't interested in 1950s history, but ancient or early Australian history. And he wasn't skipping a study load to get pissed or sit around on the internet, but to read for 11 hours on something as valid and 'educational.' How can someone like that, who's dad and six siblings are all respected lawyers, be in limbo for two years and have no real concrete sights for university?

The system is appalling and those pricks have gotten away with it.

Gee, I don't know. It might have something to do with an inability to do what was required of him, when other students (of whom, I'm sure plenty also had other interests they'd have rather pursued at the time) were able to show discipline and a willingness to do what was necessary to get ahead in life.

Complaining about that is almost as bad someone claiming that they've been unfairly treated and blaming others for their shortcomings, when in reality they're just not as special as they kid themselves into believing they are...

But that's just my take.

 

[The_Reaper]

Silent Alarm is correct about the WA education system.

It's shit

The main problem is year 8 to 10. The standard set is so low and the consequence of failure so little that it encourages laziness and creates bad habits.

My father is actually friends with OT Lee who writes maths text books for WA high school students. The year after I graduated they changed the maths courses and brought concepts from year 9 to year 8, from year 10 to year 9, from year 11 to year 10 etc.

There has being no significant change in the mean marks which suggests that the previous system was ridiculously watered down.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I'm also struggling with motivation for uni work. My degree is such a joke that I really can get by without doing anything at all for 11 of the 12 weeks of the semester and then doing a week of work for a distinction. What really annoys me is how little the university actually does for the thousands of dollars they're sucking from me every year. This semester I have to complete a major project worth three classes of credit, yet the uni has absolutely no involvement project in this other than giving me a pass or fail at the end of the 12 weeks. Then I have to find my own internship for the second semester, and there's my three-year degree finished. Without learning a thing.

Thankfully I didn't waste my time studying in VCE. I had a great time turning up 2 or 3 days a week while gigging regularly with my bands. Passed everything and got a mid-60s ATAR, got into the degree that sounded so good on paper but is a load of shit in reality. Meanwhile most of my friends who did sacrifice their social lives and had a horrid time in VCE have dropped out/switched uni courses because they hated what they worked so hard to get into. I can't wait to get out of the education system, though I figure I might as well finish this pathetic degree so I'm "a university graduate!"

I know an incredibly silly girl so obsessed with school, that she'd study at half time during her netball games.

She got into Oxford, mostly to exercise the ego of her extremely middle class parents.

Two weeks later and she's unemployed in my hometown and never wants to give tertiary education a go.

Silent Alarm is correct about the WA education system.

It's shit

The main problem is year 8 to 10. The standard set is so low and the consequence of failure so little that it encourages laziness and creates bad habits.

It is. The level is so low to impress other states and other countries. The politics of a few w***ers genuinely ruin and subside the education of people. It is ludicrously easy not to fail at school and it breeds a real culture of complacency. Now I'm travelled okay with my ATAR, got into two good unis, and average a distinction and I do my essays in one night. I'll be okay and I know what I'm happy with in a job. I'm not worried.

But the education department are the most useless pricks I'll ever encounter.

 

[The_Reaper]

I know an incredibly silly girl so obsessed with school, that she'd study at half time during her netball games.

She got into Oxford, mostly to exercise the ego of her extremely middle class parents.

Two weeks later and she's unemployed in my hometown and never wants to give tertiary education a go.


It is. The level is so low to impress other states and other countries. The politics of a few Moos genuinely ruin and subside the education of people. It is ludicrously easy not to fail at school and it breeds a real culture of complacency. Now I'm travelled okay with my ATAR, got into two good unis, and average a distinction and I do my essays in one night. I'll be okay and I know what I'm happy with in a job. I'm not worried.

But the education department are the most useless pricks I'll ever encounter.

Especially the fact that in years 8 to 10 the report cards only had levels or grades.
An average of 71 was awarded the same grade as an average of 91, so for a lazy student why would you work hard for that extra 20%?

It really took me to my third year of uni to begin to break the bad habits I developed in early high school.

 

[HappyChappy35]

Silent Alarm is correct about the WA education system.

It's shit

The main problem is year 8 to 10. The standard set is so low and the consequence of failure so little that it encourages laziness and creates bad habits.

Very true, and not just for WA either. Don't finish an assignment on time and teachers will just say "oh okay, bring it in tomorrow". Get a poor result on a test and it's "you didn't do very well on that test HappyChappy35, just remember to revise some more next time". A student fails a subject and it's no big deal, we'll just stick an 'NA' on their report because giving them a 'fail' might hurt their feelings.

The biggest problem I've found with the education system is the emphasis of quantity over quality when it comes to learning. Too many things are taught in schools that have little relevance to everyday life. For instance, I'd much rather learn a bit about finance and economics in maths than how to plot a point on some graph.

 

[Cruyff14]

I remember doing surds in year 9 and thinking when the **** are these used in life.

 

[Gough]

What are surds?