What Makes Students Tick?

Education is a state of complete mental, psychological, physical, and social well-being and not merely the ability to read and write. I like Jean Jacques Rousseau’s analogy: “Plants are shaped by cultivation and men by education.” An investment in education aimed at strengthening human mind is one of the most important investments an individual can make for oneself or a country can make for its people and its future. Education gives people critical skills and empowers people with the knowledge, ability, and confidence to shape a better future. The impact of the investment in education is, therefore, profound: education results in raising income, improving health, promoting gender equality, and reducing poverty. There is no wonder why people, old and young, men and women scramble for admission to higher education.
Million of students are enrolled in institutions of higher learning each year but, according to “Pathways to Prosperity," a study by the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2011, just 56 percent of college students complete four-year degrees within six years. High college dropouts, low motivation and poor academic performance are among the reasons this author decided to find out what makes students tick.

What makes students tick is the product of years of studying students’ study habit with a view to understanding why some students fail to accomplish their educational objective, while others do. After years of teaching and advising students, I realized that students need more than Maslow’s motivational factors to move them to the finishing line. This is the kernel idea of this book. As a faculty and Academic Advisor, I witnessed some students starting a class with exuberance and remaining at full speed throughout the first semester or year. I have also witnessed students working at snail’s pace and blaming everyone except themselves for their poor performance. Still more, I have witnessed some students starting the semester very well with enthusiasm and then gradually deteriorating both in their work and attitude in the class. I also witnessed some students starting poorly and suddenly rejuvenating and becoming significant in class activities.
Concerned about the high dropouts and/or poor performance of students, I asked myself what schools needed to do to help these students to maximize their intellectual capacity. The university I was associated with had valuable resources and facilities in place, including outstanding faculty with real world experience in their field of expertise and free tutoring for any student on any subject. Why then

were so many students either performing poorly or dropping out of school? Why were they not enjoying studying? Why were there frequent absences with flimsy excuses? These questions prompted me to search for an answer to what makes students tick. What kind and how many light bulbs do we need to turn on and energize students to attend classes regularly, motivate them to study and help them build positive attitudes towards themselves?

I spent several hours searching through EBSCHost Database and other global library machines to find books that deal with why we are having an enormous high rate of college dropouts, even at a time that more money is available for students to borrow to complete their education. What I found was time-honored assumptions by psychologists, teachers and traditional educators. Everyone seems to blame students for not being serious with their studies. While it is true that there are students who are not serious with their studies, we need to find out why they are not serious with their studies. Why would a student borrow money, pay to the university, and then dropout out of school knowing that the borrowed money would have to be paid back to the lenders?

Rather than coming out with reasons why students are not serious with their studies as other researchers have done, I went to the students to find the answer. Between 2008 and 2012, I sent out a questionnaire to more than 500 students who took my
courses either online or on-campus, asking them to answer the simple question, “What makes students tick?” During advisory sessions, I also asked students the same question on a one-and-one basis. I wanted to hear from the horse’s mouth what makes them grow weary about education and drop out of school, and if possible what we should do, as educators to help these students remain active. I received hundreds and hundreds of illuminating responses from the students.

After careful analysis of the responses received from the students, we found that, contrary to the popular opinion, students are not generally lazy or free riders. They fail to attain their highest possible level of education as a result of numerous psychological, human, natural, social and economic factors, some of which are beyond the control of the students or the school they attend.

We also found that modern classrooms are composed of adults with full time jobs, adults married with children; some students are disabled, international students who are not proficient in English language, divorcees, single parents, members of the armed forces, laborers, company executives, etc. Some of these students can only take classes in the evening after working hours. Imagine a student trying to navigate him or herself through traffic to arrive at the university before class starts. This is a Herculean task that warrants a conscious effort on the part of teachers and school authorities to help these students achieve their educational objectives.

This book analysis the factors or what makes students tick as identified by the students who responded to my questionnaire. These factors varies from students first impression with the contact with the admissions staff, to their own behavior, to the quality and behavior of the faculty, college affordability, marriage/family, quality of education, post-graduation expectations, etc. This is a must read book to all educational stakeholders—students, parents, faculty/staff and school authorities—to understand the factors that impede students’ progress. Students do not have the same intellectual capacity. They also have different educational goals.

Our duty as educators should be to assist each student to achieve his or her highest possible level of education. The success of any student begins at the level of admissions. We must critically examine student’s qualification and recommend programs that match their profile without ignoring their personal interest. We must be accessible to students, listen to them and develop personal relationship with them. Without this, students will just be numbers and sources of income for the schools. In that situation, everyone loses and the school system fails to achieve its objectives.