Friday, April 17, 2015

Study Shows Kids Get Lack of Motivation in School from their Parents

     Recent studies have suggested that the reason for kids' lack of motivation in school and their apathy towards good grades may come from their parents.  The study used identical twins from six different countries.  They used identical twins because they have the same genes and comparing the two can easily determine if any environmental factors impacted the results.  Eagerness to learn isn't contained in a single gene and intelligence is very complicated; they are constantly being impacted by the person's environment and genetic makeup and both are ever-changing to some degree.  Based on a test that their subjects took, 40-50% of a child's motivation came from their environment and the same percentage came from their genes.  The subject needs to be investigated further because there are still a lot of holes, for example are these results due to something else such as overall intelligence or academic achievement.  


     I think these findings are interesting and I think the correlation makes logical sense.  I also think it was clever to use identical twins for an easier comparison study.  I believe that, as for as academic performance goes, an individual's environment has a huge impact on them.  I also believe that someone's genetic makeup influences their willingness to learn before their environment does. Ultimately, a person's genetic makeup influences how they deal with their environment and how they let their environment affect them, so both factors are influential in some way.  I'm interested to see if any further studies will be done on this subject to hopefully get some more answers. 


2 comments:

  1. I found this post really interesting. In reading this article, I found myself thinking about my own home life and comparing my brother and I as well as our parents. Personally, I am very motivated in school, overwhelmingly involved, and dedicated to my future and grades. My brother on the other hand could not dislike school more and doesn't have a drive to persure further education beyond what is required of him. Looking at my parents, they are the same two ways, my mother being the motivated one. After reading this article, I can now make sense of the drastic differences between us.

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  2. I think this article is fascinating, to see how these twins will unfold in the future. I believe that the motivation for studying it does start in the family, and to see how the families from each country can motivate these children is amazing because their culture will have a great impact in their behavior.

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