Ask Casey
Hello Casey,
My marks are going down in school, and I am really finding myself dreading attending class. What happened? I used to be so motiviated and in to going to school. Can you give me some advice?
Down With School, Calgary, AB
Hi Shanna,
I'm sorry to hear that you're going through such a tough time with school right now. It can be tough sometimes, eh?
The first question I'd ask myself is "What's changed in the last year?" What's happening in your life that's making school so difficult, that wasn't there before? Have you taken on too many extracurricular activities, do you have a new boyfriend that's taking up a lot of your time and energy, is there something that's happened in your life that was really hard to deal with? These kinds of things can make concentrating on your school work really hard, but if you work through them and try to balance them with school it can be a lot easier.
Look back on the time when you did really care about school. Why did you care so much about doing well? What was your motivation? Sometimes major things change in our lives and the things that used to motivate us don't seem to anymore. For instance: when we're young our parents play a huge role in our lives..... they're everything to us!! But as we grow into our teens we try to divorce ourselves, to some extent, from our parents' values and beliefs (what they stand for), changing our whole outlook on life. When something like that happens, and your reasons for doing things change, it can be really hard! So, sometimes you need to find a new way of motivating your self, new reasons for wanting to do things.
One thing that worked for me, when I really didn't like school, was to find a way for it to be fun. Exactly what that looks like is very different for every person and you have to sit down and figure it out. It means making a commitment to putting some time and energy into it. If you're there everyday you might as well be enjoying your self, right? Maybe it means asking your teacher to let you pick your own essay topic, one that you are really passionate about, or maybe it means telling your teacher in your book review what you really thought about the book you had to read. Take the time to have a little fun with everything you do. But again, it means putting more time and energy into your work. Remember, when you do that you will also get a lot more back! The other side of it is that sometimes it just won't be fun, so you have to bear down, grit your teeth, and get it done. However, those times will be a lot easier if you can enjoy yourself the rest of the time.
Casey